In 1993 Marie Gesto disappeared after walking out  of a supermarket in Hollywood. The case was quickly elevated by LAPD commanders from the Missing Persons squad to the Homicide Division, where Harry Bosch was assigned to the case. But the young woman never turned up -dead or alive - and it was a case Bosch couldn't solve.

Thirteen years later Bosch is in the Open-Unsolved Unit, where he still keeps the Gesto file on his desk, when he gets a call from the DA's office. Raynard Waits, a man accused of two heinous killings, is willing to come clean in regard to several other murders in a deal to avoid the death penalty. One of those murders, he says, is the killing of Marie Gesto. Bosch is given the task of taking Waits' confession, and of making sure the killer is not scamming authorities to avoid a date with death.

In confirming the confession Bosch must get close to the man he has sought -and hated - for thirteen years. Bosch's whole being as a cop begins to crack when he comes to realise that he and his partner missed a clue back in 1993 that could have led them to Waits and would have stopped the nine murders that followed the killing of Marie Gesto.

'Connelly is writing the best detective fiction out there' - Spectator

A former police reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Connelly is the author of eleven acclaimed Harry Bosch thrillers and several stand-alone bestsellers, including most recently the highly acclaimed legal thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer, selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club. His books have been translated into 31 languages and have won awards all over the world, including the Edgar and Anthony Awards. Michael lives with his family in Tampa, Florida.

Michael Brandon starred as Jerry Springer in the Award winning production of Jerry Springer: The Opera, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He came to London in 1984 to star as Dempsey in Dempsey and Makepeace and has starred in many acclaimed stage and television productions on both sides of the Atlantic, including works by David Mamet and Dennis Potter. Most recently Michael finished shooting the two part Lynda La Plante drama Trial and Retribution II: Closure and the film Are You Ready For Love? Michael also read Connelly's bestselling The Lincoln Lawyer.