Scottish homicide detective John Rebus has been sent from "North of the Border" to help London police catch a serial killer with a gruesome M. O.. Teamed with a London cop he wants to trust but can't, Rebus lets a beautiful psychologist into the case and develops a bizarre portrait of a killer who leaves bite marks and tears on each victim's body. Now it's only a question of who is going to get busted first: the cop with the accent who breaks all the rules--or the psycho painting London with blood.