When his childhood friend, Verity, is found at the foot of Beachy Head, barely alive, Harry's life is thrown into turmoil. He can't accept that the happy-go-lucky girl he grew up with would try to kill herself. He should know. He was closer to her than anyone, wasn't he?

As Verity lies in a coma, damaged beyond repair, Harry is haunted by memories of their childhood and by the knowledge that what they once shared is lost forever.

With the help of his friend Adam and Verity's business partner Sam, Harry begins piecing together the last few weeks of Verity's life. Sam is as baffled as Harry, but Adam thinks Verity's suicide attempt was the inevitable consequence of a life which was clearly spiralling out of control.

The deeper Harry gets, the more questions remain unanswered. Why was Verity's flat burgled? Why was she secretly seeing a psychiatrist? And, for Harry, the most haunting question of all: why did Verity kiss him, all those years ago, and then banish him from her life? If Harry can't find the answers, he may have to face the fact that perhaps he never really knew Verity at all...

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Orion, UK (December 15, 2003)
• ISBN-13: 978-0752857671