Detective Inspector Wordsworth has been called in for an interview with the Internal Investigation Unit. They are making enquiries into his handling of Operation Clayton, an extensive operation originally sparked into life by the disappearance of fifteen-year-old Jodie Kinsella.

The case, while at first seemingly run-of-the-mill involving a runaway teenager, soon became so much more. It was immediately evident to Wordsworth and his partner DS Redhead that Jodie was just one of a number of teenage girls that are missing. If it hadn't been for Jodie's disappearance, then there would have been little chance that anybody would have ever seriously looked into the other missing girls.

Their detective work leads them eventually to three boys from wealthy, influential families who all attend a local private school and all had a connection with Jodie and the other missing girls. Do they have a teenage serial killer on their hands? And more importantly: if he can find the culprit, can Wordsworth even make a conviction stick in the face of institutional discrimination?