This is perhaps the most interesting chapter of the Tom Thorne series that is famous for its element of suspense and the conclusion of the story that is always a bit different than we expect at the start. Mark Billingham throughout the series has done both the jobs of narration and writing brilliantly and his novels have never disappointed the fans.
This time our hero Tom Thorne is put in a rather tough job when an arrested criminal who is a ruthless murderer, of course, reveals the whereabouts of one of his victims on the sole condition that the officer who arrested him should go there and collect the bones of the victim. Tom though knew that it could be a set up still risks his life for the sole cause of proving Stuart guilty in every case he could.
The murderer along with Tom goes to an island that has a mystery of its own as well. An island that is connected to spirituality as it was thought to be the resting place of more than twenty thousand saints. The novel quite beautifully unfolds the legends related to the island thus making the story much more interesting at every step as we approach the middle of the story.
The legends though most of them never prove to be true but still they play on the mind of Tom Thorne who slowly realizes that the crazy murderer has something g far more deadly in his mind, even the bones that he finds on the told spot seem to be fresh that horrifies us the most. The planning of the criminal always provides us with an element of surprise.