Twenty-five years after her parents and brother's disappearance, Cynthia who was adopted by her aunt, Tess Berman, is married to Terry Archer and they have a daughter Grace.

Following Tess's sudden murder as well that of Denton Abagnall, a private detective hired to investigate the vanishing of Cynthia's parents and brother, Terry finds a connection to the death of a woman named Connie Gormley.

Ultimately, Terry finds Clayton, who has been alive this whole time, but is dying of cancer; Clayton explains all, revealing he has been living a double life, being married to a unstable woman named Enid and their son Jeremy, who is Cynthia's half brother, as well as living his life with Patricia, Todd and Cynthia.

Terry ultimately deduces that Rolly had killed Tess and Abagnall and Gormley and had been sending money via Clayton to pay for Cynthia's education.

Emma-Lee Potter of The Daily Express called the novel "a fast-moving roller-coaster of a read"[3] and Laura Wilson of The Guardian wrote, "Barclay succeeds in both banging the gong and serving up a riveting, rewarding and, for the most part, plausible three courses, though you may need to take a deep breath somewhere around the coffee stage.