A detective who can't move on.
A killer who won't let go.

Two years after the explosive finale of Tender is the North, Detective Jake Sawyer has found an uneasy peace.

He's building a new life with an old flame while practising Buddhist philosophy, teaching martial arts, and running an art foundation in his late father's name.

But when an ex-colleague is found dead at his Mediterranean villa in an apparent suicide, Sawyer's fragile calm is shattered, and he embarks on a dangerous private investigation that tests everything he's learned about letting go.

From the sun-soaked terraces of Ibiza to the rain-slick alleys of Manchester, Sawyer uncovers a deadly conspiracy that could reach the highest levels of the UK police.

But he has a shadow on his back: a bounty hunter who knows about the murderous pact he shares with a notorious fugitive.

As Sawyer's secrets are forced into the light, he must choose between the man he's trying to become and the darkness that has always defined him.