'I was running when I saw my father kill himself. Not that he jumped off a tall building or stepped in front of a truck but - professionally, personally - what I watched him do was suicide.'

The last person that professional bodyguard, Charlotte 'Charlie' Fox, ever expected to self-destruct was her own father, an eminent surgeon. But when Charlie unexpectedly sees him admitting to gross professional misconduct on a New York news program, she can't just stand by and watch his downfall.

That's not easy when Richard Foxcroft, always cold towards his daughter, rejects her help at every turn. The good doctor has never made any secret of his disapproval of Charlie's choice of career - or her relationship with her boss, Sean Meyer. And now, just as Charlie and Sean are settling in to their new life in the States, Foxcroft seems determined to go down in a blazing lack of glory, and take Charlie and everyone she cares about down with him.

But he has not bargained on Charlie's own ruthless streak. And when the game turns deadly, Charlie will need to stake her life and her father's against a formidable foe.