When a frightened Russian woman seeks DCI Hanlon's help in finding her missing husband, Hanlon's not keen on the case. Until she hears a name she recognises only too well: Arkady Belanov, sadistic pimp and owner of an exclusive brothel in Oxford is involved.

When her former partner and friend disappears, Hanlon is forced into an uneasy alliance with the London underworld to rescue him from the blood-stained hands of the Russian mafia.