Benjamin is missing. No ordinary six-year old, for bonds of blood and family link him with the highest echelons of the establishment and the murky depths of organised crime. Despite his mother's frantic appeals and the tireless efforts of the police, hopes of finding him are fading, and fear gnaws at the heart of a man who has everything to lose. Samantha Quest is searching. Dismissed from the security services, she is free to act without restraint; to take any measures, no matter how extreme, to recover the child, alive or dead. Her search involves her with a family tormented by secrets. It plunges her into a vicious underworld where men hold power by inflicting terror and pain. The death toll is rising. Ruthless killers stalk her while they, too, hunt for this strange child they are so desperate to find.