The bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN returns with a Buchan-esque thriller. 'Torday has an extraordinary gift for making apparent "normality" look sinister and strange' THE TIMES 'Funny, ambitious, multi-layered and quirkily imaginative' SCOTSMAN 'A thrilling read' PRIMA 'Written with confidence and dry humour, it's engaging and funny' BIG ISSUE 'Gripping' NEWS OF THE WORLD Traumatised by a tour of duty in Iraq, Richard Gaunt returns home to his girlfriend with very little of a plan in mind. Finding it difficult to settle into civilian life, he turns to drink and gambling - and is challenged to a bet he cannot resist. All he has to do is walk from London to Oxford in under twelve hours. But what starts as a harmless venture turns into something altogether different when Richard recklessly accepts an unusual request from a stranger ...