As the last pot breached the surface of the water, the fisherman's anticipation curdled to dread. No crab clattered within—inside the cage, where his catch should be, were a pile of human bones.

When the bones of a victim are found in the bottom of a crab pot, the bizarre case proves to be Detective Alana Mack’s toughest yet. She and her team must rely purely upon forensic clues to identify the elderly woman’s remains.

As Alana negotiates the complex web of genetic links at the heart of the case, she finds herself the target of a seemingly random attack. Her arm shattered and wheelchair damaged, she has no choice but to call her ex-husband for help.

Reeling from her assault but determined to stay on the case, Alana makes a chilling link between the crab pot victim and an infamous cold case adoption. Ciara Buckley, the sole survivor of a deadly house fire as a teen, appears to share DNA with the unidentified woman—yet believes both her parents perished in the traumatic blaze that scarred her childhood.

Then the estranged brother of the fisherman who discovered the bones is found dead in his home. And Alana and her team make a startling discovery—the brothers were adopted as young boys and their mother disappeared without trace decades ago.

Alana is close to decoding the cryptic forensic clues and unearthing dark family truths—secrets the killer is determined to erase. Can Alana stop more surviving relatives from being targeted before she becomes the next victim?

An absolutely gripping stay-up-all-night crime thriller for fans of Angela Marsons, Ann Cleeves and Patricia Gibney.