PI John Craine has come to Hale Island to get away from it all - the memories and the guilt, and a past that just won't let go.

But within hours he stumbles across the dead body of a young girl on the beach. When the police arrive the body has inexplicably disappeared. Or - in his already tormented state - did Craine imagine it in the first place?

Determined to get at the truth, Craine starts asking questions. But it seems no one on the island is talking. And all too soon he finds himself tangled up in a deadly network of fear and violence.

Someone has a dark secret to keep, and Craine is getting in the way...

Kevin Brooks was born in Exeter, Devon, in 1959. He studied psychology and philosophy in Birmingham and cultural studies in London. He spent much of his early life writing and recording music, and later turned to painting and sculpting. He worked as a civil servant, a crematorium handyman, a hotdog vendor at London Zoo, a post office counter clerk, a petrol station attendant, and a call centre operator. Since 2002 he has written eleven novels for teenagers and has won several awards, including the Canongate Prize for New Writing, the Branford Boase Award, the North East Book Award, and the Angus Book Award. In Germany, his books have twice won the prestigious Jugendliteraturpreis and he has also been awarded the Buxtehude Bulle and the Golden Bookworm. A Dance of Ghosts, his first novel for adults, was published in 2011. He lives in North Yorkshire with his wife Susan.