A small deceit

William Adams is a killer who has never been convicted for murder. He has never confessed, even when convicted of rape and criminal assault. Nor has he admitted to the other attacks upon women. He feels no remorse, no pity for his victims. He despises them. Now, having served his sentence in full, he is free, subject to no supervisory control. He has some money put away. He can assume a new identity and disappear. At a quiet guesthouse on the outskirts of a country town, Adams recognizes someone from his past, someone also staying there under an assumed name, someone who must have recognized him. From this chance encounter, a nightmarish chain of events is set in motion, and the lives of many people who should have been immune to threat and blackmail, fear and violence, are profoundly changed.