Richard Burke

When Matthew's wife Charlotte is kidnapped, his world is thrown into chaos. Who has taken her - and why? There are no demands made for her release, just a threat that if he calls the police, Charlotte will lose the baby she is carrying - and then Matthew will lose her. Matthew is paralysed, haunted by the gloating phonecalls of her captor. As a prison governor, Matthew is convinced that Charlotte's abduction may be related to his job. Unable to talk to anyone in authority, he resorts to the only help he can find - Monk, an ex-prisoner who appears to have gone straight since his release, but has underworld contacts Matthew can only guess at. It's a devil's pact, but time is running out.

When his childhood friend Verity is found at the foot of Beachy Head, barely alive, Harry's life is thrown into turmoil. He can't accept that the happy go lucky girl he grew up with would try to kill herself. He should know. He was closer to her than anyone wasn't he?

As Verity lies suspended in a coma, damaged beyond repair, Harry tries to uncover what went so horribly wrong in her life. Haunted by memories of their childhood, and by the knowledge that what they shared is lost forever, Harry begins piecing together the last few weeks of Verity's life. He enlists the help of another childhood friend, Adam, and Verity's business partner Sam. Sam is as baffled as Harry, but Adam thinks Verity's suicide attempt was the inevitable consequence of a life which was clearly spiraling out of control.

The deeper Harry gets, the more questions remain unanswered. Why was Verity's flat burgled? Why was she secretly seeing a psychiatrist? And, for Harry, the most haunting question of all why did Verity kiss him, all those years ago, and then banish him from her life? If Harry can't find the answers, he may have to face the fact that perhaps he never really knew Verity at all....