Darkness Falls — Margaret Murphy

British barrister Clara Pascal stars in Darkness Falls and she has everything. A high-flying attorney and devoted mother, she was envied and admired by her peers. Now, robbed of everything that gave her life meaning, she lies chained to the stone wall of a cold, dark cellar, deprived of food and rest. Most frightening, though, her kidnapper refuses to communicate with her, even to tell her what he wants.

As Clara passes from fear to anger to despair in her dark prison, Detective Inspector Steve Lawson leads the Cheshire police team working to find her. Is her abduction the work of a random maniac? A released criminal taking his revenge on the lawyer who sent him to jail? An obsessed stalker? Is it a last, spectacular bid for freedom by Casavettes, the ruthless drug baron she was prosecuting? Even her husband is not above suspicion.

The police team frantically knocks on doors, follows bare wisps of leads, bullying, cajoling, and begging witnesses for help, but it seems that Clara Pascal has disappeared without a trace.

And Clara, at last, begins to suspect why her jailer has kept her alive so far....