The Third Rule // The Pain of Strangers

"You're still alive until you meet The Third Rule." New Rules. Old Corruption. Propelled by a wave of atrocities, a new government comes to power. It introduces a strict code of punishment, The Rules, designed to rid England of serious crime. But they slaughter truth and justice as well as the criminals. The Rules push boundaries too far, and though described as infallible, they ensnare innocent people too. One of those innocent people is Christian Ledger, a talented artist, who is arrested and charged with a fatal stabbing. Christian is heading for the 'slaughterhouse' because no one will listen; certainly not the police who just scored another hit. Is the secret he carries enough to save his life? CSI Eddie Collins, a reluctant hero with one failed suicide attempt already behind him, suddenly wants to live when the police hunt him for shooting a colleague. What he and his friend, reporter Mick Lyndon, find out puts them in danger, but they'll never make it to the slaughterhouse because a government killer is right behind them. Can they survive long enough to expose the shocking truth? "If you want to kill serious crime, you have to kill serious criminals." Sir George Deacon, Minster of Justice.