Haunted by the death of his wife and daughter, who died in a car he was driving, Jake Mann, a sexual obsessive, flees to the Catholic Church. After training as a Jesuit priest he is sent to Nigeria. There he suppresses his desire for women. At his teaching mission he proves too radical for both the Church and the local security forces, getting involved in protests against Big Oil, and discovering a talent for exorcism. Escaping with a 15-year-old Nigerian boy, following the final confrontation with a possessed police captain, Jake is given a 'disgraced' parish in Bristol, where he's expected to fail. Heavy trouble finds him there following a series of savage and bizarre killings that echo those committed by the police captain. Jake becomes a suspect when the police discover he was having a secret affair with one of the victims. Most terrifying for Jake is when he realises the identity of the darkest heart behind the killings…
