Skulduggery Pleasant has many enemies - many, many enemies - and people try to kill him multiple times a day. But when someone puts a price on his head, he finds himself going up against a foe that not even he can beat. Not alone, anyway. And where is his partner right when he needs her the most?

Valkyrie Cain is in prison, fighting to stay alive in a place where everyone wants to kill her. With an island of sorcerers ready to cut themselves off from the rest of the world, a terrorist group enjoying unprecedented public support, and a showdown looming between Winter Grieving and the Child of the Ancients, Skulduggery and Valkyrie find that their options, like their chances, are quickly running out. IS THIS THE END?