The Cellar
Lisa Stone

Kasun works for £8 a day content moderating. He witnesses a murder and goes to investigate. He isn’t seen again. It is Lisa Stone’s ninth thriller with a difference, a fast paced narrative that is 72,000 words long.

Kasun is a content moderator and hates his job. He only does it to support his widowed mother and younger brother, Amal, who is still at school. Kasun views all types of degradation and puts the photos he views into boxes on his computer, some to send to his company and others for immediate deletion.

He decides on impulse to trace the internet pathway of a group of indecent images that show underage girls. He traces it to Mathawa, not far from where his Uncle Singh lives. He decides to visit Mathawa and uses his uncle as an excuse. One of the photographs he looks at, to his astonishment, shows Jiya whom he went to school with.

He takes two buses to Mawatha and secrets himself across the road opposite the building, watching and waiting. He his shocked to see the man who comes out is his Uncle Singh.

He visits him as planed and his uncle gives him a lift in his brand new Audi to the bus stop. He offers Kasun a job which he accepts. After sleeping on it he decides against accepting the job and phones his uncle. Singh is very annoyed by his decision.

Kasun visits Mathawa again to see if he can help the girls who are being photographed there. He takes some photographs on his phone and takes them to the police station in Karnataka.

DC Beth Mayes is excited as she is going on holiday. Her boss, DS Scrivener, asks her if she could do him a favour and call in and see Mrs Rana whose son, Kasun, is still missing. Not best pleased, Beth agrees. This is her holiday after all.

She begins to investigate and on returning to her hotel finds a note telling her to go home now. She ignores it and continues with her holiday, but suddenly wakes up to find herself in a dark cellar. She is manacled to the wall and a decomposing body is not far from her.

Matt asks DS Scrivener if can go and look for Beth as she hasn’t been in touch for two days. He agrees. Once there Matt starts to make enquires about Vishnu Singh and goes to Mathawa where he eventually discovers Beth in the cellar. She is very weak and he takes her back to his hotel and nurses her back to health.

When she feels a bit better they go after Singh who disappears without trace. They come back to England. Beth has PTSD and takes time off work. Once she has recovered an email circulates in her office with a picture of her naked on a bed. It is obviously the work of Singh but he can’t be found anywhere until …