Everyone has a secret.

Peter Marlow has spent his life living a lie. And when he finds himself in Harlsden, after accidentally looting a safe, all he wants to do is lay low and disappear. But a chance encounter, out by the lake, changes everything.

Soon he's thinking the impossible about all the things he's denied himself – stablity, love and a future. There's only one obstacle standing in his way – a husband who deserves no mercy.

When Evelyn Jarrowby offers him the spare room above her grocery store, Peter is drawn into a web of deceit and half-truths, and offered the chance to get closer to Sally Fletcher. But her husband, Dan Fletcher, is not the sort of man you can reason with: violence is the only language he understands. 

Peter Marlow's new life seems to be unravelling before it's even begun, unless he's willing to cross the line. Maybe Evelyn's right when she says, “A man could drown in that lake and never be found; it’s that deep.”

And even if he could bring himself to do it, what about the other villagers - what secrets are they keeping from him?

Excerpt

Let’s just say that I am a prospector of sorts. A successful one, who has never cheated anyone who did not ask to be cheated, never conned anyone who did not delight in thinking that they were conning me.

The mist clung to my face and I felt a cold resolve settle in my chest: my decision was made – he had to die.