Dr Nina Crawford of the University of Glasgow's Vet School - driven, fanatically dedicated, a survivor - is one of the most respected animal surgeons in the country. But now she seems to be losing her grip. On her operating theatre, on her skills - and on her mind. After routine operations, horses are dying of the highly infectious E. Coli endotoxaemia, and it seems the outbreak can't be stemmed. Under fierce scrutiny from those around her, Nina feels herself spiralling into suicidal depths. Her friend Kellen Stewart, heroine of Manda Scott's astonishing debut novel Hen's Teeth, is catapulted into Nina's dilemma when her own horse needs emergency surgery. And soon it becomes clear that not only horses' lives are on the line...