When Leicester Detective Cal Fisher is called to investigate the disappearance of shop girl Tess Hardy, it appears the woman has simply run away. But as he looks closer into Tess's life, he discovers all is not as it seems. Tess's boyfriend is also not all he seems. Mike, a deeply traumatized ex-soldier, is fated to continually repeat the pattern of abandonment that has shaped his troubled life. Tess, left alone without food, shelter or warm clothing on a remote Scottish island, has little hope of survival. Frozen and starving, she reaches deep inside herself to search for an inner strength she doesn't believe she possesses. And as Cal delves deeper into Mike's past, the terrible realization dawns that he's no longer searching for a missing woman. Now he's hunting a serial killer