Five years after a tragic expedition put New Hope Island back in the headlines, past-his-prime crime author Dennis Thorpe leads a writers retreat to that secluded corner of the Hebrides...The group is never seen again. Ruthie Gillespie, the beautiful, heavily tattooed, hard-drinking author of dark tales for children, was supposed to be among their number but something stopped her at the eleventh hour, and it isn't long before the police come knocking. Ruthie falls deeper and deeper into a web of dark magic and darker secrets as it becomes clear that the writers' pasts are not what they seem. How far can you take an investigation when your own life is threatened? Do you continue, knowing that you must find the answers before the Island claims another victim? Or do you run and hope that it never catches up with you?