Set in Bradford and on the streets of London, the first-person narrative switches between Link, a newly-homeless young man adjusting to his situation, and Shelter, an ex-army officer scorned after being dismissed from his job, supposedly on "medical grounds", with a sinister motive.

A sociopathic ex-army member, dismissed for "medical reasons", he is convinced that he must "clear" the streets of the homeless population.

He begins abducting and murdering victims, hiding them under the floor of his room and dressing them in army clothes.

Link then makes a resolution to only worry about himself, but this is soon broken when he meets a mysterious young woman named Gail.

Link ponders the unjustness of a world where he is homeless and hungry, while a murderer like Shelter is housed in a warm prison with 3 meals a day.

The story, set in the late 20th century, most possibly in 1993,[1] is told in chapters that alternate between the perspective of Link, the protagonist, and Shelter, the antagonist.

Shelter's chapters are designated by military-style Daily Routine Orders; Link's are told in a journal- or interview-like fashion.

This and the fact that no perspective other than theirs is ever offered means that they are both unreliable narrators, albeit whilst allowing that Link's side comes across as the more plausible.

Swindells won the annual Carnegie Medal recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.

[2] In 1997, the novel was adapted for a television series of the same title, starring James Gaddas, Peter Howitt and Elizabeth Rider, and produced by Andy Rowley.