survived because she hid in the what field when her mother screamed at her to run

when she was 6, rest of her family murdered by AD in a random. knife attack in rural Devon

after LM informs of AD being released from prison, she disappears with an uncharacteristic lack of communication

as a mother, she is extremely protective of GJH (who she only calls "the baby") and she trusts the dog with her and baby's life

she hires RC as "mothers help" and RC idolises her, finding her competence and maternal warmth comforting

NH claims she went to visit her sick aunt AB,RC (picks up clues)and JB find her at a remote farmhouse outside Edinburgh. she just killed 2 of her captors (who she named Peter and John in an attempt yo humanise them)

JB burns down farmhouse to destroy evidence of murder

later AD found dead in JB's Lodon flat, apparently using a handgun she had bought

she claims to have forgotten all the details of her kidnapping and moves on with her life, inviting RC to love with her and rejecting NH

RC saves his life, later befriends him when she tracks him down in the hospital, claiming him as a father figure and also an ally in her search for Jo H M

lost his sister, Niamh, to murder when they were both teenagers. thus = life long obsession with finding and rescuing women, often thinking of himself as a shepherd

on his way back home to London, he gets on the wrong train and is nearly killed when the train crashes outside Edinburgh

he has worked with LM in the past and still has strong feelings for her

also has a daughter, Marlee, via ex-wife Josie & he is newly married to Tessa

at the end of novel, its revealed that he was the young soldier who found six-year old JMH in the wheat field

at the beginning of novel, visits Yorkshire to see N

when he finally returns to London, he finds AD dead in his flat and learns Tessa was an imposter, she cleaned his bank accounts and fled

though he fears he's too old to start fresh, he remembers that he's a "crusader" and revolves to keep going

Jb believes, he is his father via ex-gf Julia who denies his paternity. claims "Mr Arty-Farty" is the father instead

over the years became mixed up in petty theft and drugs

thugs associated with him trash RC's flat and later burn it down, RC discovers that Billy, on the premises of doing odd jobs for Ms Macdonald has been smuggling heroin in hollow-out Loeb Classsics editions.

he later at the end of the book, threatens RC with violence, muses that he's going to kill her - unclear whether this is an idle threat or not

happens that he sold a Russian handgun, his father';s Gulf War souvenir to JMH, though RC is unaware that Dr H had any knowledge of him

JHM visits him a month before his release, apparently in an attempt to understand his motives

lesss than a week after his release, he goes missing and is found dead of apparent suicide inn JB's flat, having somehow swapped ID's with JB

serves a 30-year sentence, is a model prisoner and converts to Catholicism while in prison

murdered Gabrielle, Jessica and Joseph Hunter in a random, upremeditated knife attack I rural Devon when he was a young man