Michael Beaumont is head over heels with the woman of his dreams. But Alison is harboring a dangerous secret, one that threatens to break loose once Michael introduces her to his last remaining relative. Michael's grandmother Rose, who raised him from childhood, isn't quite the woman she used to be --- her memory is failing her, and she's prone to fits of wild emotion. But something about Rose's outburst upon meeting Alison seems like more than just a simple delusion. And something about the string of murders terrorizing London, with incidents occurring just blocks from Michael, feels like more than just a coincidence. What is Rose not telling Michael? What is Alison hiding?

The Maguire brothers each have their own driving, single-minded obsession. For Jonathan, it is his magnificent, talented and desirable wife, Harriet. For Roger, it is the elaborate universe he has constructed in a shed in their parents' garden, populated by millions of tiny insects. Following a series of strange and disturbing incidents, Jonathan begins to question every story he has ever been told about his brother --- and if he has so completely misjudged Roger's mind, what else might he have overlooked about his family and himself?