After his wife's sudden death, Nicholas leaves the life he had in London and returns home to Australia. He knows something is very wrong and feels he is teetering on the brink of madness. But the truth is much, much more sinister and dates back to his childhood: when Nicholas was ten years old he found a strange talisman near the woods close to his home. He didn't touch it but felt its menacing power and ran. Later, he told his best friend, Tristram, about it. They returned to the woods together to seek it out and Tristram picked it up. That same day Tristram was murdered. There is something lurking in the woods that knows Nicholas is back...it has been waiting. Because the wrong boy died. On the night Nicholas returns home another boy goes missing and when his body is found it is clear that his murder is chillingly similar to Tristram's. Forced to uncover long-buried secrets Nicholas finds himself and those he loves in great danger. And he realises that he is linked to a hideous and enchanting nemesis who will stop at nothing to get what she needs. This is a brilliantly told thriller with characters and events so grounded in reality that it is horrifyingly believable.