When his daughter, Samantha, calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days. Rebus fears the worst --- and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. He wasn’t the best father --- the job always came first --- but now his daughter needs him more than ever.  But is he going as a father or a detective? As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast --- and a small town with big secrets --- he wonders if this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn’t want to find.