A new spate of nightmarish murders brings DCI John Luther to once again face the depths of human depravity on the streets of London. As the body count rises, and gangster George Cornelius applies his own pressure, can Luther catch the killer and save his own neck?

Reeling from the death of his friend, Luther races to save the others from Cornelius's terrible retribution. With Luther's increasing absence from the case, Halliday heads the hunt for a killer on the loose - a killer determined to complete his final macabre masterpiece.