When Rob decides the family needs to get away for the summer Jess is not convinced - won't all the things they're escaping be waiting for them on their return? But the kids are thrilled, and before long their idyllic little cottage, the sea air, and the feel of skin sticky from sun-cream, lollies and sand, begins to work its magic.
Jess allows herself to sink into the holiday vibes - the family even make holiday friends. As the summer heat intensifies Jess - ever vigilant - unearths a secret - a problem she's sure she can help solve. But things are not always as they seem. The water may look inviting but even the gentlest looking waves can hide the deadliest undercurrents.
This summer Jess is determined to fix things where she's failed before, but life is rarely that simple. This holiday is going to end in a way she could never have imagined . . .
Ruth Hartland is the director of a trauma unit, a psychotherapist with years of experience, wise and respected by her peers. But professional skill is no guard against private grief. The mother of grown twins, she is haunted by the fact that her beautiful, difficult, fragile son Tom, a boy who never 'fit in,' disappeared a year and a half earlier. She cannot give up hope of finding him, but feels she is living a kind of half-life, waiting for him to return. Enter a new patient, Dan, who looks exactly like her missing son. She is determined to help him, but her own complicated feelings cloud her professional judgement. Boundaries she would never have crossed with another patient are crossed. And before long, events spiral out of control...
