For a decade, Nina Hazlitt has been ready to hear the worst about her daughter's disappearance. But with no sightings, no body, and no suspect, the police investigation ground to a halt long ago, and Nina's pleas to the cold case department have led nowhere. Until she meets the newest member of the team: former Detective John Rebus. Rebus has never shied away from lost causes. Now he's back as a retired civilian, reviewing abandoned files. Two more women have gone missing from the same road where Sally Hazlitt was last seen. Unlike his skeptical colleagues, Rebus can sense a connection but pursuing it leads him into the crosshairs of adversaries both old and new.