August blazes and a suburban family is burned alive. A detective with murderous secrets must atone before he can bring another killer to justice.
A fire-starter stalks the suburbs of Lincoln. A prison officer's family is burned alive and he is missing. A local drug dealer made a heroic attempt at rescue. The respectable carer next door is scared and lying. Her lawyer daughter is stonewalling the investigation. Newly promoted and desperate to atone for a fiery death in his own past, DS Harkness hunts down Firth, a serial arsonist newly released from prison.
DS Harkness is dragged into a tumult of retribution which only begins with Firth's violent arrest. Only after he himself narrowly escapes a fiery death does he begin to understand the tangled hatreds that criss-cross the hedgerows of suburbia, and the real cost of redemption.