For Robert Jacklin - packed off without warning to boarding school in Zimbabwe - everything is terrifyingly new. Branded an outsider from the moment he opens his mouth and unable to decode the subtle power struggles of the classroom, he longs for the safety of his old life in England. And then he meets Ivan. Clever, cunning, seductive Ivan, who offers him not only friendship, but power. As Robert is drawn slowly into Ivan's destructive web, he begins to question things he'd always held true and, as Ivan's grip tightens, he finds himself caught up in something far more dangerous than he could have imagined.