For five long years, Detective Barnes has been hunting the killer of the person he cared about the most. Now, the one man who could have revealed the truth is dead. His charred and blackened body is all that remains in his burnt-out flat.

A week later, a desperate, emaciated young woman hammers on the door of a late-night convenience store. She speaks no English - but it's clear that she's terrified - and running for her life.

It's only Barnes who connects the two events. He and his new boss, Superintendent Samson Kane, team up to uncover the truth. Their investigations stir up dangerous undercurrents within Eastbourne's criminal community.

And the two police detectives are vulnerable. Both Barnes and Kane have secrets in their pasts. Secrets which look set to catch up with them . . . with horrifying consequences.