Eleven-year-old Barney has been on a quest to find his mother since she left when Barney was just a toddler. But everything changes when children about Barney's age--and all from the same neighborhood where he lives--start disappearing and turning up gruesomely murdered. There will be no real reason for Barney’s friend and neighbor, Lacey Flint, on leave from her job as a London police detective, to become involved…and no chance that she can stay away.