Why, on a wet and stormy night, did the old and very ill novelist Dan Braile decide to take a walk? When he doesn't come back his family are at first reluctant to call the police, despite the fact that he had claimed someone was trying to poison him. But they become steadily more tense as the evidence points towards a horrifying conclusion - and under the strain their united front begins to crack . . . 'A consummate professional in clever plotting, characterisation and atmosphere' Washington Post