Can a person with channelled aggressive personality disorder be a good cop? Can an intensely competitive, utterly insensitive person, ever become a capable investigator? Should a person with no regard for personal boundaries, and an intolerance of weaker individuals, even be in the police service? Wouldn't such a person exploit and victimize others? Or could they be employed as an effective investigator because they wouldn't let anything get in the way of justice? Can Valerie Brading apply her 'internal brakes' once she's on a mission? Can she harness her aggression for pragmatic purposes? Does she have to go into every single event with an "I win, you lose" mentality? Will her newly posted partner soften her confrontational characteristics? The pair are allocated a child abduction case... but the clues are deceptive and their investigations are impeded by institutional failures. They work under flawed leadership, and with a pool of dysfunctional workfellows. In such circumstances, will A/DS Brading ever find the missing child? Can she bring an offender to justice? Or will the powers-that-be strip her of the temporary rank before she solves the crime?