It's Christmas, and half the Partickhill police squad is down with flu. Not good timing, with a series of cyanide poisonings in the area, plus two small boys reported missing in the space of a few days. And then there's the monumental task of providing concert security for rock legend Rogan O'Neill . . . But for Detective Inspector Colin Anderson, the nightmare is about to get terrifyingly close to home. For a third boy has now gone missing - Colin's own son, Peter. The team race to find the boys before it is too late. But how long will it be before they realize the key is hidden in the lyrics of a rock song - 'Tambourine Girl' by Rogan O'Neill?

Caro Ramsay was born in Glasgow and now lives in a village on the West Coast of Scotland. Absolution is her first novel.