The girl criminologist David Dunnigan spent eighteen years searching for has returned... Hasn't she?

'Taut, compelling and authentic ... an edge-of-your-seat thriller' Andrea Carter

David Dunnigan just received the phone call he has spent eighteen years waiting for.

A young woman has been found -- and she's claiming to be his niece Beth, who disappeared as a child. Is she telling the truth? And, if she is, will Dunnigan finally rid himself of his demons, and help her to rebuild her life?

Meanwhile, an investigation into a gruesome murder leads the criminologist to five prominent men, seemingly unlinked, who say they are being stalked by a shadowy figure. But 'Mother Joan' seems to merely be an urban legend, a ghostly avenger who punishes the wicked. So, if these men fear her wrath, what sins have they committed?

As Dunnigan pursues this strange mystery, enemies from his past are closing in. And when the case leads him to the crowded streets of London and then to the dark forest of Kielder, myth and reality become terrifyingly linked.

But is Dunnigan prepared for what, and who, he will face?