It should have been a dream come true. Nick Chance fancied her at school but nothing ever came of it. Six years later they meet up. This time she wants him. Nick plays sax in a band, Babette went on to college and became embroiled in animal rights issues. The nightmare begins when Nick agrees to drive her to a meat processing plant where she intends to get photographic evidence of what goes on inside, only she doesn't come out again. Nick's quest to find out what happened to Babette leads him into a dark and complex labyrinth in which heroes become villains and villains are still villains. As Nick probes ever deeper, the story of what really happened to Babette-and why-becomes horrifyingly clear. Russell James has been called a ""British crime poet of lost souls and grey streets"" (Time Out). He is known for hard-hitting, low-life thrillers, mainly set in southeast London, though this new novel is set in and around the city of Bristol.