The claustrophobic environment of Ariel College, Cambridge, has become the hunting ground of a serial killer. For the students, a siege mentality has developed following weeks of media interest in the 'Cambridge Butcher'. College life has become not about surviving their exams, but surviving full stop.
Forensic psychiatrist Matthew Denison is sure that his traumatised patient, student Olivia Coscadden, has the killer's identity locked up in her memory. That within the little clique she belonged to lurks someone with a grudge. Someone who thought 'what's a little decapitation between friends?' And that someone is just getting started.
But in order to get to the truth, Denison must delve into the secrets hidden within Olivia's subconscious. Secrets that are about to take him to some very dark places indeed.