Detective Ford has a cold-blooded killer to catch. But can he escape his own dark secrets?

Barely a month since his promotion to Inspector, DI Ford is called in to investigate the murder of a young nurse and her son in a small flat in Salisbury. There are few clues, and no apparent motive, but Ford can sense that there's a serial killer at work. After all, he knows from brutal personal experience how killers cover their tracks...

It's been six years since Ford lost his wife in a climbing accident--an accident he caused. He is desperate to keep the truth hidden, especially from his son, Sam. But Ford's new partner, Dr Hannah Fellowes, is a crime scene investigator with a ruthlessly analytical mind, and as they work together to track down the killer, his crippling guilt is compounded by fear of exposure.

When instinct leads him towards a high-profile suspect, his superiors' warnings just make him more determined to connect impulse and fact. But can Ford hold it all together--the case, his life--long enough to stop the killer?