Northumberland; 1992. In the early years of his police career, a young and idealist Grant Foster investigates a crime that shocks the nation. A widower beaten to death in a sleepy former mining town. The murderers: two schoolboys aged 9 and 10. Eight years later, they are released from prison and disappear into adult life with new identities. London; present day. DCI Foster investigates the death of a man found incinerated in his own car. But this isn't an isolated crime and as more gruesome murders come to light, he soon finds himself forced to confront not only that hideous scene from all those years ago, but also his own memories .

From the author of the award-winning The Blood Detective comes the long-awaited third book in the series. A crime novel about secrets, the ghosts of hideous crimes - and a past that refuses to die.