Publisher's Synopsis
When consultant pathologist Mark Hartmann is asked to perform an autopsy on laboratory assistant Millicent Sweet, it seems to be a case no different from any other - despite the fact that Sweet was only 22 when she died of cancer. What he finds, however, is puzzling, for she appears to have died of several different but highly aggressive tumours. Before he can discuss his findings with colleagues he is called away to a conference, where, drunk and depressed one night, he ends up in bed with one of the sales reps.
The consequence of his one-night stand is blackmail by a pharmaceutical company who have videoed Hartmann's excesses. They threaten to send the tape to his wife - unless he falsifies his report on Millicent Sweet's death. But they are not the only people interested in Sweet. Her father, convinced his daughter died as a result of a laboratory accident, has contacted lawyer Helena Flemming. And when Helena's partner, John Eisenmenger, an insightful forensic pathologist, begins to dig deeper, he finds a trail of very sinister deception.
This darkly compelling tale builds on McCarthy's highly acclaimed debut novel, A Feast of Carrion, consolidating the author's reputation for strong, atmospheric writing and mesmeric plotting.
