In broad daylight, on a quiet rural road, six year old Osian Howells disappears from his own front garden. In the blink of an eye he's a missing person, taken, in the words of a headline hungry press, for nefarious purposes.
DCI Evan Warlow knows that the first hours after an abduction are crucial. Decisions have to be made quickly. Evidence can get lost or compromised, persons of interest need to be interrogated. And one or two have the team's antennae twitching.
Worse, the abductor's deviousness seems to know no bounds as cruel taunts pepper the investigation. With emotions at boiling point, and under pressure from family, the press and his superiors all 'gravely concerned' for the boy's welfare.
As always in such cases, the clock is ticking. Warlow and the team need answers and soon, before a kidnapping turns into something infinitely worse.