At a private school two teenagers are killed by an ex-Army loner who then turns the gun on himself. As Dl John Rebus puts it, "there`s no mystery… except the why". But this question takes him into the heart of a shattered community - and to a link with his own troubled past. Rebus becomes fascinated by the killer. The man had friends and enemies to spare, from politicians to the local Goths, and left behind a legacy of secrets and lies.