When Ruth Butler escaped Texas for a sleepy seaside village in the south of England, it was to rescue her infant daughter from the perverted demon she'd married. But after ten peaceful years in Perrins Point, her daughter Annie disappears. Not far away, a madman has been trying in vain to turn back time. When Ruth turns out to be a dead ringer for his mother, the voices in his head haunt him day and night. The only way to stop his mother's nagging is to kill her all over again . . . Ruth must rely on her instincts and the ally she finds in an undercover detective who's in town on unrelated business, but neither can search for Annie's kidnapper openly. Ruth could be deported for living under an alias and Detective Inspector Jon Graham would blow his cover. Nevertheless, the trail leads from a faceless body in Annie's clothes to a smugglers' cave, where the killer drains his victims' blood an ounce at a time. But he's got a special purpose for little Annie. He is patient. He will wait—until her mother comes to save her.