One wintry Dublin morning, a hired killer unleashes a deadly ambush. His targets: a Government Minister campaigning against drugs and his medical spokesman, Dr Scott Nolan. But the attacks go horribly wrong, and in the bloodhath that follows,Scott's wife Laura is killed by a bullet meant for him.Fuelled by guilt, grief and revenge, Nolan enters into an uneasy alliance with Laura's brother, Detective Mark Higgins. Together they embark on a highly controversial covert mission to track down the assassin.

Paul Carson is a doctor and a novelist. He lives in Dublin with his wife and two children. Final Duty,Cold Steel and Scalpel have all been hardback top ten bestsellers in Ireland, with Scalpel spending seventeen weeks at number one.