Trouble has a way of finding those those who spend most of their time trying to avoid it. Or so it appears to Superintendent Taleb, whose attempts to wind his career down to an unobtrusive retirement are once again in jeopardy.

When delegated a television interview to discuss a thirty year old political controversy, his instructions are clear enough: whatever you say, do not rock the boat. But an inexplicable urge in the moment to tell the truth lands him in dangerously hot water. It also reopens some decades wounds which will bring him to the forefront of an investigation he is keen to avoid.

Whether he likes it or not, the past is coming for him. And the past in Algeria is venomous, vengeful and relentless, quick to consume the unwary traveller. He will soon find himself staring down the barrel of a long buried mystery, which looks likely to add him to its lengthy roster of victims.