When hallucinations prove real, the end of sanity is near.

In recent years, Detective Inspector Alicia Friend has seen herself descend from a perky, often annoyingly-happy analyst, into a CID detective facing the everyday violence, intimidation, and apathy that has caused so many police officers before her to grow jaded - something Alicia swore would never happen to her.

Now, a young woman whom Alicia needs to protect has seen a figure that all had assumed imaginary step out from her nightmares into the real world.

The Skinny Man is here.

But this isn't some supernatural phantom. This is a person, a human obsessed with the legacy of one of Alicia's former cases, and he will kill, torture, and manipulated anyone to get what he wants.

As Alicia battles to keep her own secrets, she must pull apart the fractured mind of a devious and cunning killer as well as protect the would-be victim.

But, with so much at stake, the past cannot stay buried forever.

To Begin the End sees the chapter of Alicia Friend's life, for so long defined by the Century Killer case, finally draw to a thrilling conclusion.