Chapter One

A bestselling writer. A murder that hasn’t been scripted… Or has it? Since being left for dead in a brutal attack, crime writer Aidan Cullen hasn’t left his house. For five years his paranoia and fear have confined him to the walls of his rural home with just his dog for company. Not even his hugely successful, much-longed-for publishing career could tempt him from his self-imposed prison. But when a murder happens so close to Aidan’s home that he can see the lights of the police cars and the white suits of the forensic team, even his elaborate security system and iron gates can’t keep the world out. Aidan finds himself at the heart of DS Katherine Marshall’s investigation, as a string of seemingly unrelated murders start to show a terrifying pattern, a pattern that only he can see. As Aidan starts to feel his world closing in on him, his paranoia grows – is someone out to get him, or is it all in his mind?