On the beaches and cliffs of North Devon, lone women have become victims in a terrifying game where only one player knows the rules-and, when those rules change, the new game is murder. But that madman on the loose feels very far from the crumbling, seaside home of ten-year-old Ruby Trick. Instead of living in fear of him, she lives in fear of school bullies, the dark forest crowding her house into the sea, and the threat of her parents' divorce. So when she decides to help her father catch the killer, it seems like a good way to keep her father close-that is, as long as the killer doesn't catch her first...