DI Gavin Sexton is looking into a spate of teenage suicides when he encounters a young girl, paralyzed with locked-in syndrome. Unable to communicate in any other way, she blinks the words: 'I hired a hitman'.Recovering from loss of sight, Sexton's old partner DI Jo Birmingham is keeping her promise to investigate the apparent suicide of Sexton's own wife, Maura. But why does he no longer seem to care? Sexton believes the girl who cannot move has suffered enough. But how far should he go to protect her? And what if Jo discovers an uncomfortable truth?

Model and it-girl Tara Parker Trench is famous across Ireland - with her beauty, glittering lifestyle and perfect three-year-old son Presley, she seems to have it all.Until, one cold wet Dublin night, Tara pulls into a service station for petrol, leaving Presley strapped into the back of her car. Five minutes later he's gone, kidnapped while his mother's back was turned.Tara, terrified and hysterical, begs DI Jo Birmingham to help her find her child. But why doesn't Tara want the public to know he's missing? Soon, Jo is drawn into a dark underworld of corruption and extortion, where sex is a commodity, and life is cheap. Who is really telling Jo the truth about the missing little boy- and who's got too much to hide?