During a blistering summer, drought has depleted the Reservoir, revealing the ruins of Hobb's End, the small Yorkshire village that lay at its bottom. When a boy finds a skeleton buried in the ruins, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks faces the daunting challenge of identifying the victim—a woman who lived in a place that no longer exists, whose neighbours have scattered to the winds . . . and whose killer has escaped detection for half a century.
With the help of Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot, Banks uncovers long-kept secrets in a community that has resolutely concealed its past. As they unravel the deceptive and desperate relationships of a half-century ago, suspense heightens, and the past finally bursts into the present with terrifying consequences.
