A bomb explodes in a busy Montreal street. A mob lawyer blown apart, an innocent child murdered. Watching and powerless to prevent it is Montreal's most illustrious policeman - Emile Cinq-Mars. Then the corpse of a young man, Artinian, is found with a meat hook through his heart and the inscription M-5 dangling round his neck. M-5, March 5th, a calling card in English. When Cinq-Mars discovers that Artinian had infiltrated the mob he is drawn back to the bombing.
Linking the two crimes, the detective finds himself in the midst of the Canadian mob. Their new ally is the ruthless Russian mafia, and in particular an enigmatic crime boss known as the Czar. When Cinq-Mars uncovers the identity of another mole within the Czar's organisation, he knows it is a race against time. Can she help him catch the Czar? Can he save her from almost certain death?
Montreal, the city of ice, a schizoid landscape delineated by language, the playground of Russian criminals and American spies is the coolly rendered backdrop for John Farrow's gripping thriller. In Emile Cinq-Mars he has created a character of distinction, a detective with only his morality and formidable intelligence to guide him through the looking glass, into a world where black is white and white is black.
