Ashley Clark had given the whole of his working life to the Metropolitan Police. The 7/7 tube station bombings eventually broke his resolve and his love affair with London. He could have prevented the bombings, saved all those lives. He transfers back to Northumbria Police and his native Newcastle. During a routine disciplinary hearing, Ashley realises the job has changed and for once his temper gets the better of him. He is out of the job, back on Civvy Street. Within a few days, an old friend's mother begs him for help. Her son has disappeared off the face of the earth and the investigation points to Holy Island, a small hamlet off the north-east coast of England. Ashley goes undercover, like his hero Sherlock Holmes; why not? It was a role he played to the full in London and nobody does it better. He comes across a Freemason-type organisation, the Island Keepers, fiercely protective of the island and its historical and religious past. He encounters Claire Macbeth, a stunningly attractive hotel receptionist with a sinister secret, and he discovers an unusually high number of deaths originating from the island in recent years. He feels certain the Island Keepers know more than they are saying. He contacts his old allies in the police; they seem reluctant to get involved. Something is wrong - very wrong. And now Jacob Moor, Worshipful Master of the Island Keepers, has discovered Ashley Clark's undercover secret. The ex-policeman nosing around Holy Island is about to pay the ultimate price.