One man. On the hunt for the truth. On the edge of London. And way outside the law. Daniel Connell is a disgraced ex-City lawyer now scraping a living in Essex, a man trying to escape the long shadows of his past. When an old childhood friend visits him, asking for his help with a case of police brutality, Daniel wants nothing to do with it. But obligations are obligations, and he soon finds himself on the wrong end of police attention, and dragged into the shady business of a local gangster. But there is far more at stake than he could ever have anticipated - including the mystery of what happened to his mother, who disappeared months after he was born. Daniel must keep ahead of his pursuers long enough to uncover the bloody mysteries of the past - and the fate of another young woman, too innocent to protect herself in the midst of a dangerous game. Welcome to Essex.

A mother's nightmare: her children taken from her because of unexplained injuries all over their bodies. Who will believe her story? When lawyer Daniel Connell receives a visit from his trouble-making old flame Victoria pleading for his help, he looks for any excuse not to get involved. But no one else believes her pleas of innocence and Daniel can see she is terrified. As he enters Vick's life once more, Daniel's search for truth leads from the dark heart of Essex to the mountains of Afghanistan, and a terrifying world where monsters are real - and nothing is sacred.

When dying millionaire William Gove asks Daniel Connell to execute his will, Daniel has no idea what he's getting himself into. Gove has chosen 10 random names from the phone book as the recipients of his fortune. When he dies, Daniel sets out to track them down. But a chance remark by one—that perhaps this is God's way of compensating for her daughter's disappearance—gives him pause. Another mention of a missing person, and Daniel suspects there may be something darker at work. His discoveries set him on a lethal trajectory with a powerful family who believe themselves to be above the law.