From the outside, the house was unremarkable. Just one of many on an ordinary, suburban estate. But inside was a different matter. With pink ribbons and pink walls, stuffed toy animals everywhere and a dining table laid out for a tea party, it was a doll's house.The doll was sitting at the table. Life size, with blonde, pigtailed hair and rosy red cheeks, dressed in her best pink party dress. Her finger and thumb curled round the handle of a fine china teacup.An adult woman. Covered in blood. Eviscerated. Dead.In all his years on the force, Detective Inspector Phil Brennan of the Major Incident Squad has never encountered a scene like it. As he investigates he uncovers more bizarre revelations and knows that he must act fast; the next murder has already been planned and the victim is closer to home that he realizes . . .

The honeymoon is over for newlywed criminologist Marina Esposito. Her house is in flames. Her detective husband is in a coma. Her baby daughter is missing. And then her phone rings...'I have something you've lost,' the voice said. 'Your daughter.'The voice at the other end wants to play a game. If Marina completes a series of bizarre tasks within three days, she wins her daughter's life. If she fails, her little girl dies. The clock starts now.In a desperate race against time, Marina begins to suspect that the madman is someone she knows - someone with a past as troubled as her own. But the truth is far darker than she imagines...

Suzanne Perry is having a vivid nightmare. Someone is in her bedroom, touching her, and she can’t move a muscle. She wakes, relieved to put the nightmare behind her, but when she opens the curtains, she sees a polaroid stuck to the window. A photo of her, sleeping, taken during the night. And underneath,the words: “I’m watching over you.”

Her nightmare isn’t over. In fact, it’s just beginning. Detective Inspector Phil Brennan has a killer to hunt. A killer who stalks young women and insinuates himself into their lives.But the more Phil investigates, the more he delves into the twisted psychology of his query, Phil realizes that it isn’t just a serial killer he’s hunting but something—or someone—infinitely more calculating

Into the house. Down the stairs. Through the dripping dark of the cellar. Someone is there. Someone that shouldn't be there. As a building awaits demolition, a horrifying discovery is made inside the basement: a cage made of human bones—with a terrified, feral child lurking within.

Unbeknownst to Detective Inspector Phil Brennan and psychologist Marina Esposito, they have disturbed a killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years. A killer who wants that boy back. But the cage of bones is also a box of secrets—secrets linking Brennan to the madman in their midst. With the death toll rising and the city reeling in terror, Brennan and Marina race to expose a predator more soullessly evil than any they've ever faced—and one who is hiding in plain sight.

C'è un raccapricciante assassino in libertà. Un assassino come nessun altro. Prende di mira donne in avanzato stato di gravidanza, drogandole e strappando loro brutalmente i feti. Quando l'ispettore Phil Brennan viene convocato sulla scena dell'ultimo delitto, sa di essere entrato nel mondo del più depravato omicida che abbia mai incontrato. Dopo un'infanzia senza amore e piena di abusi, Phil conosce a fondo il male. Ma a questo non era preparato. Poi, quando la profiler Marina Esposito viene coinvolta per aiutare a risolvere il caso, ciò che rivela è un'autentica bomba: pensa che ci sia una donna coinvolta negli omicidi, una donna con un disperato bisogno di figli...

A shocking double-murder scene greets Detective Inspector Philip Brennan when he is called to a flat in Colchester. Two women are viciously cut open and lying spread-eagled, one tied to the bed, one on the floor. The woman on the bed has had her stomach cut into and her unborn child is missing. But this is the third time Phil and his team have seen such an atrocity. Two other pregnant women have been killed in this way and their babies taken from them. No one can imagine what sort of person would want to commit such horrible crimes.

When psychologist Marina Esposito is brought in, Phil has to put aside his feelings about their shared past and get on with the job. But can they find the killer before another woman is targeted?