Can a bad person produce good art? Darren Butts is a serial killer who claims work-of-art status for his murders. Anything-goes art taken to its final conclusion or cynical kidology? Which would be worse? Gerald Riser is a case-hardened prison chaplain who despairs for Butts's soul and his own faith. Terry Welbeck is a streetwise, media-savvy artist who cares only about Butts's market value and doesn't give a damn for his soul and even less for Riser's faith. Their three-way struggle culminates in an upfront, fight between Riser and Welbeck and a much more sinister victory for Butts scheming...

Brothers have long been the grist of novels but most stories reflect bookend cases of sworn enemies or bosom buddies. This one looks at two brothers from the vast middle ground of those who just don't get on too well. Blood neither binds nor spills. It does sometimes boil a bit, mind. Reciprocal misdemeanours like sleeping with each other's partner or unilateral crusades like sabotaging the whites-only hiring ploy of the other brother's sheet-metalwork shop plus one-off gigs like Heathrow jewel heists all tend to pitch them willy nilly into niggling tiffs and fitful fisticuffs. The setting is...