'I could probably have been an actress. It is not difficult to pretend to be somebody else. Isn't that what I've been doing for most of my life?'

Cordelia Russell has been living on the French Riviera for twenty-five years, passing herself off as an English socialite. But her luck, and the kindness of strangers, have run out. The arrival of a visitor from her distant past shocks Cordelia. She reacts violently to the intrusion and flees her flat to spend a drunken night at a glittering party. As dawn breaks she stumbles home through the back streets. Even before she opens her door she can hear the flies buzzing.

She did not expect the corpse inside to start decomposing quite so quickly . . .

'The finest psychological thriller writer currently at work - no one gets under the skin of monstrous characters like she does' Tammy Cohen

'A wonderful feat of imagination, totally gripping, with a fascinating character at its heart' Sabine Durrant

'Monumentally good. Liz Nugent is a beautiful writer and among the very best storytellers in the world' Donal Ryan