A split-second decision has life-changing consequences for Metropolitan Police firearms officer Jessica Raker when she fatally wounds the son of a notorious organized crime chief during a robbery in Greenwich – and discovers her husband has been having an affair.

With her career, her marriage and her life in danger, Jess is sent back to her home town of Clitheroe in the Ribble Valley to take up a sergeant role in Lancashire police. But as she throws herself into dealing with a hostage situation up on Dead Man’s Stake Farm and a body discovered in a reservoir on her first day, her enemies are plotting their revenge – and they’re closer than she thinks...