When Clara Pascal speaks, people listen – thats how its always been, for as long as she can remember. A talented lawyer, beautiful, wealthy, she is envied and admired by her peers. But then she is snatched from the street by a masked man, watched by her terrified daughter. Held captive, bound and blindfolded, in mortal fear of her life, the rules that have always protected her from and elevated her above the violent men she defended no longer apply. In the suffocating silence of her prison, her only audience is her captor; he determines the rules of exchange. Now she has to bring all her powers of oratory to bear, for she is pleading in defence of her life. Who is this man? What does he want? His voice is familiar; perhaps if she can uncover his identity, she will be able to persuade him to let her go – or will the knowledge place her in further danger? The police are beleaguered: this is the second abduction in only two weeks – are they linked? Could the barristers disappearance be connected to the high profile drugs case she was due to begin defending, or has she fallen foul of a former client who bears a grudge? There are too many possibilities and no clues, no ransom demand – and the only witness is her distraught child. Then an earring is found on the Pascals doorstep, an earring Clara was wearing the day she was abducted. As Hugo Pascal struggles to hold his family together in the midst of a nightmare that threatens to tear them apart, he finds that even he is not above suspicion. With the discovery of a womans body, the race is on to find a serial killer before he murders again.