DCI Mark Lapslie suffers from a rare neurological condition that 'cross-wires' his senses. The sickening clamour of sounds he can taste has smothered his marriage and stifled his career and it's getting worse. His colleagues have written him off as a drunk - or worse, a lunatic - and Lapslie has quarantined himself in an isolated Essex cottage, only venturing out at night when peace reigns. Carl Whittley, 22, stays at home too, caring for his crippled father. He's got his own problems to deal with too: he's just tortured a minor TV celebrity to death and blown an apparently anonymous commuter to pieces. Tooth & Claw is a visceral thriller that will draw DCI Lapslie into a deadly game where the troubled detective might just discover that his gravest weakness is also his greatest strength.