#Book

Noble Blood, Tainted Hands is a gritty, character-driven crime thriller set in the industrial city of Ilmaria (City), a sprawling metropolis rife with corruption, poverty, and crime. The story follows Lorenza de Calis, a junior constable and outcast from her prestigious military family, as she descends into the city’s criminal underworld and struggles to reclaim her life and her sense of justice.

The novel begins with Lorenza being assigned a cold case: the disappearance of a young seamstress, Esther Moore, a decade prior. Her investigation uncovers ties to an underground syndicate trafficking in drugs, forced labour, and human lives. When a raid on the syndicate goes catastrophically wrong, her unit is massacred, and Lorenza is captured. Enslaved and drugged with a substance called "Dust," which creates a deadly dependency, Lorenza is subjected to brutal conditions as the syndicate tries to break her will.

Resilient and cunning, Lorenza manipulates a young syndicate member into falling in love with her, a gambit that ultimately allows her to escape. Her return to Ilmaria (City) is far from a triumphant homecoming. The constabulary accuses her of collusion in the failed raid, using her captivity as evidence against her, while her family, already estranged due to her career choice, disowns her completely.

With no allies and her reputation destroyed, Lorenza takes justice into her own hands. She embarks on a vigilante mission to dismantle the syndicate, uncovering layer after layer of corruption that extends far beyond the underworld. Her journey leads her to Marcellan, the ambitious and calculating leader of a new syndicate rising from the ashes of the old. Gaining his trust, Lorenza becomes a key figure in his organization, grappling with her growing influence in the criminal world while secretly working to destroy the remnants of the old syndicate.

As she unravels the web of power behind the syndicate, Lorenza discovers that the criminal enterprise is backed by the city’s most powerful elites, including the Prince of The Principality of Ilmaria himself. Torn between her need for vengeance and the growing realization that the corruption is systemic, Lorenza must decide whether to expose the truth and risk plunging the city into chaos or to embrace her role in the shadows to dismantle the system from within.

Noble Blood, Tainted Hands is a dark and compelling tale of survival, betrayal, and moral ambiguity, exploring themes of power, justice, and the personal cost of vengeance.

Lewis Stockton's Official Website

Lewis Stockton's UK Amazon Store