London, 1826. Leaving behind his father s tragic failures, Gabriel Swift arrives to study with Edwin Poll, the greatest of the city s anatomists. It is his chance to find advancement by making a name for himself. But instead he finds himself drawn to his master s nemesis, Lucan, the most powerful of the city s resurrectionists and ruler of its trade in stolen bodies. Dismissed by Mr Poll, Gabriel descends into the violence and corruption of London s underworld, a place where everything and everyone is for sale, and where as Gabriel discovers the taking of a life is easier than it might seem.