Dunedin, in the grip of an unseasonal flu, is a city under siege. Cats are being tortured and gay men viciously targeted. Then, after five damaging days of rain, a twister rips through, exposing in Ross Creek Reserve the body of a missing schoolgirl. Detective Senior Sergeant Leo Judd is forced to lead the investigation despite unresolved sorrow over the disappearance of his own daughter nine years earlier. In the long aftermath of loss, his wife Kate has grown out of their marriage but she hasn’t told Leo yet. Or that she’s going to move in with her lover, Rea. Sultry weather broods over the city as suspects are sifted. Pressure mounts for Leo to solve the crime and to face his grief, and for Kate to tell the truth about leaving Leo—and about the secret she’s nursed since the hour their beloved Beth disappeared.