Rachael Blake

THE SECOND follows the author of a celebrated erotic memoir, whose newfound success is threatened when her best friend and muse reveals the truth behind the memoir's provenance, igniting an incendiary tale of sex, lies and betrayal.

It's a long hot summer and teenager Charlie Boyd meets Maggie, the mysterious and alluring French woman who lives down the street. She's a professional and she specialises in pain. Giving it, exploring it, and sharing it, all for money. What starts out innocently however soon becomes more dangerous.

Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects her husband is cheating on her. When she disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery. A web of love, sex and deceit emerges, drawing in four related couples.