A year after 'the affair' in Dinas Powys, Thomas Bexley has become a drunkard and recluse, haunted daily by terrible visions of the dead, visions he cannot explain or truly understand. But when news of a spate of extraordinary kidnappings reaches him, Thomas is shocked to learn that his dear friend and former mentor, Professor Elijah Hawthorn, is the lead suspect. Discovering a plea for help from Hawthorn claiming to have unearthed a gruesome conspiracy at the heart of the Metropolitan Police force, Thomas embarks on a journey to find the missing Hawthorn and prove his innocence. But wherever Thomas goes, he is followed by the dead, and as the mystery of Hawthorn's disappearance deepens, so too does the conspiracy in the MET and Thomas's apparently growing insanity. How can Thomas be certain of the truth when he can't trust anybody around him, not even himself?