Forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy has given up police work to enjoy a quiet life in the Lancashire village of Kelton Bridge, but when Martin Hayden, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy is murdered, DCI Max Trentham, Jill's ex-colleage and ex-lover, wants her back at work.

As they hunt Martin's killer, they find the picture is far from straightforward. For a start, it seems likely that Martin wasn't the innocent young fellow his parents claim, and might have been involved in blackmail. Furthermore, Martin's father isn't exactly the distraught parent one would expect, while his mother, Josie, seems determined to take her own secrets to the grave.

When the killer strikes again, Jill and Max find themselves in a desperate race against time...