Next year's most terrifying novel, from the internationally bestselling author of The Whisper Man, available to pre-order now

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Neil Garvie can't move on from a thing he didn't do, back when he was twelve. He saw the boy. He knew he needed help. But all he could do was hide.

Now with a successful career as a criminal psychiatrist, Neil pours himself into his work, understanding the very darkest of human behaviour. Because, despite what he saw that day, Neil knows there's no such thing as a monster.

But now he's got a call. His father, John, a retired police officer, has disappeared, last seen approaching a high cliff, known locally as a suicide spot. Neil can't believe he didn't see the signs.

It's just, the more he looks, the more it seems like there weren't any signs. In fact, John seemed to be conducting some kind of off-the-books investigation, into the mysterious murder of an unidentified woman.

Why didn't John go to his former colleagues? What did he uncover? Did it drive him to take his own life, or did it drive him into the hands of a killer?

But the most important questions of all are the ones that Neil doesn't know to ask. How does this modern-day murder connect back to what happened that day when he was twelve? And, this time, when he comes face to face with the darkest killer he's ever faced, will he have the courage to step out of the shadows and save the people he loves?

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Praise for Alex North

"As terrifying as a great horror novel, as unpredictable as the best type of crime novel and above all beautifully written...a writer who is an absolute master of his craft" Jane Casey

"This is absorbing, headlong reading, a play on classic horror with an inventiveness of its own" New York Times

"Hugely atmospheric and deliciously creepy" Alex Michaelides