Clara Pascal had everything: a high-flying barrister and devoted mother, she was envied and admired by her peers. Now, robbed of everything that gives her life meaning, she lies chained to the stone wall of a dark cellar - without food, without warmth, without sleep, without even the most basic communication for her kidnapper will not even tell her what he wants from her. As Clara passes from fear to anger to despair in her dark prison, Detective Inspector Steve Lawson leads the Cheshire police team working to find her. Is her abduction the work of a random maniac? A released criminal taking his revenge on the lawyer who sent him to jail? An obsessed stalker? Is it a last, spectacular bid for freedom by Casavettes, the ruthless drugs baron she was prosecuting? Even her husband is not above suspicion. The police team frantically knocks on doors, follows up wisps of leads, bullying, cajoling, begging witnesses for help, but it seems that Clara Pascal has disappeared without trace. And Clara, at last, begins to suspect why her jailer has kept her alive so far.