'In a kind of reflex action, he turned to attack me, but I had him about the waist with one arm, and caught his wrist with the other, keeping the pointed piece of pottery away from me. Sarah was there then, and wrestled it from his tiny hand. As she did, Jason Farrell looked deep into my eyes, and I will never forget what I saw in his: there was no love, no innocence, and no vulnerability; they were deep pools of pain and madness. In that moment, I knew that we were dealing with a child who had gone far beyond anything I had encountered in my brief career and, just for a second, I despaired.'

When Shane Dunphy first met Jason he was a tiny, tortured five-year-old who had stopped speaking, and who terrorised others with his angry, violent behaviour. Gradually, with remarkable patience, Shane and the team win Jason's trust and, slowly, he begins to speak and reach out for the help and comfort he so desperately needs. Eleven years later, Shane is shocked to find Jason's file coming across his desk again. The boy, who has been in and out of care in the intervening years, is now in a unit for young people who are themselves sexual offenders. He has committed some horrendous crimes, and is facing a life of incarceration. Shane sees through the bluster, and realises that the child he once knew is locked inside this angry young man. Can he rebuild what was already a delicate friendship, and help Jason to face up to who he is, where he has come from, and what he has done? Or will he have to confront the fact that some children are too hurt to save?