The Dead — Howard Linskey

There's only one way I'm ever getting out of this . . . Sooner or later I'm a dead man

David Blake is back in Newcastle, running three cities, top boy. Life is sweet until his bent accountant is arrested for murder. The money man is nailed on for a life sentence until he puts five million pounds out of Blake's reach. Now Blake faces an agonising choice; fix the acquittal of a child killer or run out of the cash he needs to bankroll his empire.

Meanwhile Serbian gangsters are slowly taking over his territory and a crazed Russian Oligarch wants to use Blake's drug supply line for his own ends. Back at home, the Police are closing in, determined to take David Blake off the streets of Newcastle forever, and Blake's girl Sarah is asking awkward questions about the death of her father that he really doesn't want to answer.

As he fights for his life, David Blake slowly uncovers a shocking truth about his own past, turning over stones until he finally reveals a secret known only to The Dead.