The house was like something out of a Jane Austen novel, but the truth of what lay in the shadows was more terrifying than any fictional imagining. 

Shane Dunphy recalls the experience of his darkest nightmares: a young girl describing missing children as playthings at house parties, but no one was listening; a malevolent, threatening presence looming in the residence they called the Bad Place, and Shane was forced to flee. 

And now, 20 years later, a mother pleads with him to find her son who vanished at age five.  

Determined to redress his mistakes, Shane doggedly investigates and begins to uncover a vast international child-trafficking ring that goes to the very top of the establishment.  

And behind it all there’s the Dark Man, a hideous exile from humanity who has decided Shane needs to be taught a final lesson. Recounting cases of historical child disappearances, unsolved abductions, collusion with the Catholic church and its culture of secrets, lies and cover up, Shane Dunphy builds a picture of a complex web of organised criminality. 

And, in a powerful story of personal redemption, Shane attempts to confront his demons and bring the notorious ringleader to justice.