Blowtorch

On the far side of the tracks, four men were savagely beating a woman to the ground. I shouted just as the tallest one grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her head back. For an instant our eyes met. Then with a long looping cut he hacked off her head. Steve Jay's got problems. He's just seen a women brutally murdered. East London is in the grip of racial turmoil and an embittered immigrant community's anger is focussing on him. Then an arsonist sets fire to an Asian cinema leaving hundreds dead and the flames of ethnic tension look set to rage out of control. It's just the beginning. Pat O'Keeffe's exciting third novel throws Steve Jay into a world of violence, drugs and corruption and pits him against a shadowy foe who wants Jay out of the picture. For good.