After Peter and Moira Astle's house is burgled while they are away celebrating their wedding anniversary, he becomes obsessive about preventing a repeat of the incident.
Judith is an unexpected guest at the quiet country hotel run by Mr and Mrs Darbon, a very strange couple. And a curiously threatening hitch-hiker adds up to a situation of unbearable suspense. It's less a case of wondering what will happen next, than hoping it doesn't happen al all.
When a stranger intrudes on the privacy of Judith and Roger to give them tea, Judith is sure he's a killer. Roger discovers the truth about the intruder, but cannot reveal it.
A neighbour's disapproval: a brick through a window: cat-calls and jeers: a petition. Throughout the day, a world of menace closes in on Margaret as she tries to adjust to a situation that everyone else finds unacceptable. And she tends to think they're right - until it's too late.
Lena has her ideal, in the shape of the perfect room in an idyllic country retreat. Robert, too, has an ideal: he believes if you can't live without someone, you must either live with them, or get rid of them - permanently.
"A holiday in Spain at a luxury villa for two" read the brochure. But there had been no mention of the visitor who wanted to share the couple's food and accomodation, and who certainly wasn't there for sun and relaxation.....
Deanna Ward goes back to her job as a customer representative. Her first customer is a bachelor who promises to buy something for his fiancee. When Deaana returns with the goods, however, she walks into a macabre and terrifying situation.
Something evil is happening in the Parkers' marriage. There is terror in the quiet suburban house with its locked cellar; murder may not be far away. Or could it just all be in the imagination?