Newly qualified social worker Kit is thrown in at the deep end when she is given the case of an alleged historic child sexual assault by a well-liked local businessman who has powerful friends, and a father with high-up connections.

Kit feels out of her depth and nauseous at dealing with the family, but she knows it doesn’t matter how powerful he is, or how much money he has, she is there to do her job and that is to see to the safety of his children and complete an assessment.

With the police dealing with the criminal investigation, Kit is left trying to sort through the lives of the family. Is Matthew Cooper really guilty or is she there delving into an innocent family’s life that she could very easily destroy?

The first thing you notice about the book is how much the author knows the world she has created, unsurprisingly she is a former social worker. Her knowledge radiates from the pages and helps to make the plot feel plausible and realistic.

Kit is a fabulous character. She is driven by wanting to help children, especially as she was once a child known to social services, had a brutal upbringing with her mother, and then was brought up by a foster family. She doesn’t come across as your average social worker, with her informal clothes and piercing. Something which doesn’t bode well with the Cooper family, who seem to think that her look means she is no good at her job.

The storyline is very character-driven and whilst I thought that Matthew Cooper was a bit of a prat, I found it hard to be convinced 100% of his guilt or innocence, the author certainly holds the cards close to her chest and it wasn’t until near the end that all the pieces of the puzzle come together.

Whilst I was totally addicted to the ongoing case, the drip-fed information about Kit’s childhood and upbringing and her sibling’s lives didn’t quite grab me as much. However, the book was certainly different from anything I’ve read before and it was a nice start to a new series.