Actor Toby Flood arrives in Brighton for the final week of the production of a Joe Orton play. That night he is visited by his estranged wife, Jenny, who is worried that she is being stalked by a strange man. She asks Toby, for old times’ sake, to follow the man and get to the bottom of things.

What he discovers is a legacy of industrial negligence and a sinister connection with Jenny’s new partner, Roger Colborn. Spurred on by a desire to win Jenny back, Toby begins to ask probing questions. Before he fully understands the risks he is running, he finds himself caught up in a mysterious – and dangerous – tangle of family rivalries and murderous intent. The prospects for his survival until the close of the show suddenly start to look very far from good…

'The novel is an absorbing display of craftsmanship, with the transition from the initial theatrical milieu to the Hitchcockian finale accomplished with typical deftness' - Sunday Times

'An exquisitely crafted tale of dirty dealings among nice English provincial families, this time revolving around a dangerous chemical factory. Goddard is the most idiosyncratic writer around, a wholly English institution with an unmistakable flavour, like cyanide cucumber sandwiches' - The Times

'Pages seldom turn more quickly then when you are reading Goddard's latest' - Yorkshire Evening Post

'Twists in the plot come thick and fast' - Guardian

If you would like to add your review of this book email : robertgoddardbooks@randomhouse.co.uk