Secrets: who needs them and who wants them?
More than we might suppose...
Read about the Medical Centre on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford where it seems just about everyone has a secret or two. The trick, as some have already found out, is to protect one’s own, whilst using any means to discover another’s. Some will go to any lengths in order to uncover, and reveal to public scrutiny, what others are desperate to protect, and then to use this information to fuel their lust for money, for power - or just to get even.
One person has a secret of far greater significance than all others and this person remains anonymous whilst their true identity remains hidden, allowing them to covertly assist those, who find themselves in dire circumstances, just when they are most in need. Unfortunately they have underestimated what depths others are prepared to plumb and it comes down to a simple, but heart breaking choice: say nothing and disappear, or reveal themselves and unwittingly gain knowledge of the last great secret – just what are the things that are worse than death itself?
“When asked later, nobody present that day would ever have believed they could be more shocked in their lives, but one more revelation, one that was as momentous as it was unexpected, awaited them, while they hung on in that withering environment, with each second holding more and more distress and despair for the poor man who was now sobbing with grief at the thought of his wife being harmed in this way.”
This is an original, fast-paced and intriguing novel; not only about the darker side of human nature; people who are prepared to use reprehensible methods to achieve selfish aims: but also those who are prepared to stand and do the right thing even though this exposes them to extreme danger; when it would be so much easier to retain their anonymity and protect their safety. The whole panoply of human behaviour will be found within the book’s pages from the depths of depravity to the rarefied heights - where few can function - and even fewer succeed.
