When a philanderer vanishes and his abandoned vehicle appears in a high-profile jurisdiction, DCI Alec Stainton finds himself entangled in a hunt that links a missing person to a brutal serial killer. As the investigation into Ken Crossland deepens, Stainton must navigate the mounting pressure of a national manhunt while grappling with the chilling possibility that the man he is tracking is the same individual responsible for a string of murders. The narrative follows the procedural efforts of the police force as they attempt to reconcile the evidence of Crossland's disappearance with the violent patterns of the killer known as the Carver. The story maintains a focus on the logical progression of police work, utilizing a third-person perspective to track the movements of both the investigators and the elusive suspect.

This work fits firmly within the tradition of British police procedurals, emphasizing the methodical nature of criminal investigation. The premise suggests a focus on the tension between the mundane aspects of police work and the extreme nature of the crimes being investigated. Readers of the genre will likely find the narrative structure familiar, as it relies on the slow accumulation of clues to build toward a confrontation. The book appears to prioritize the mechanics of the hunt over character-driven melodrama, keeping the focus squarely on the professional challenges faced by DCI Stainton.