When a mass grave containing eighteen mutilated female corpses is discovered in Shanghai, detective Li Yan is sent from Beijing to establish if the bodies are linked to an unsolved murder in the capital. Here, Li will be working with Mei Ling, deputy head of Shanghai's serious crime squad. Mei Ling is a formidable woman: a fact that is not lost on Li's on-off lover, forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell.

But when Campbell, vulnerable and still grieving the loss of her father, learns that the victims were subjected to 'live' autopsies, she knows the case is bigger than her pride. Li, Campbell and Mei Ling are now entering the arena of a sickening nemesis, and opening a door behind which lies each of their very worst nightmares.