Running from the terrible events in Tokyo which cost him his family, and the crime which killed his partner- and Kosuke Iwate has established an uneasy peace, spending his days spying on unfaithful spouses and solving blue-collar crime and his nights with an unavailable woman.

Until this almost-idyll is shattered when he is approached by a voice from his past, demanding he find a savage killer.

Meredith Nichols was found dead on the lonely train tracks linking Sunset Boulevard with Skid Row. A transgender woman, and a known prostitute, the police suspect it's a hate crime.

But as Iwata digs deeper, he discovers a world of corruption, exploitation and murder - and that the killer has a target list which includes his own mother...

Forced to journey back into her past, and return to the homeland he has turned his back on, to find how she is linked to a seemingly unrelated crime, he unearths disturbing home truths.