Last Rites by John Harvey

After a daring prison escape, a convict disappears into a crime-ridden city

It has been thirteen years since Michael Preston killed his father, and now his mother is dead too. Halfway through his twenty-four year sentence, Michael is a docile prisoner whom the warden doesn’t mind letting out for an afternoon to pay his respects. Michael goes to the funeral under armed guard, and when the time comes to return to jail, he gives them the slip.

Police inspector Charlie Resnick’s city is under siege by drugs, gang warfare, and unhinged murderers. As blood flows in the streets of Nottingham, the rumpled detective attempts to hold his department together while his personal life comes unhinged. An escaped killer and an ever-rising crime wave are trouble enough, but Resnick has problems at home that may prove impossible to solve.