‘Cut his eyes out, so he has. What kind of a monster could . . . Cut his eyes out?’

The brutal murder of ten-year-old Callum Bradley sent shockwaves across Scotland. But weeks have stretched on with no solid leads except for a 999 call which may have hinted at the boy’s mutilation and murder.

However, the call was made three weeks before the crime took place. The caller, a resident at an Edinburgh care home, is drifting in and out of lucidity due to dementia. It is a dead end to his colleagues, though Sergeant Don Colyear cannot let it drop. When another murder horrifies the city, the clock is suddenly ticking for Colyear and he is drawn far away from his usual beat, to hunt down a violent killer before it is too late.