AFTER former police detective Ted Conkaffey is wrongly accused of the abduction and rape of 13-year-old Claire Bingley, his whole world comes tumbling down.
When the authorities can’t find enough evidence to convict him, Ted is finally released.
He then moves to the quiet Australian town of Crimson Lake in Queensland, hoping to disappear.
Ted then joins a private detective agency started by Amanda Pharrell, another person with a dark history – and who has actually served time for murder.
The two are hired to assist in the murder investigation of two young local bartenders, much to the consternation of Detective Inspector Pip Sweeney, who is also working the homicide case, her first.
For both Ted and Amanda, the hunt for the truth behind the murders draws them into a violent world that they never expected.
Complicating matters is Dale Bingley, the father of Ted’s supposed victim, who turns up and demands that he help him search for his daughter’s killer, threatening to kill Ted if he does not agree to help him.
Ted is also approached by a reporter to give his side of the story on a national television show.
But something goes very wrong during the telecast, causing a misunderstanding and sending Ted into hiding again.
Author Candice Fox writes the story using several ‘voices’ such as Ted’s, Amanda’s, Pip’s, and also a diary written as a therapy journal by the actual child abductor himself.
The story only gets exciting towards the end, when things finally come together. Still, an absorbing crime thriller.
