Rot

What would you do if someone you loved committed murder?

Puerile man-boy, Neil Denton, thinks his life is ticking along just fine. Putting his recent failure behind him, he's retaking his degree in social sciences and earning money on the side organizing pyramid broadband sales (with most of the actual work being done by his Polish flat mates). He has a loyal best friend, Dan Harper, who is a police constable on one of Swindon's response teams, and best of all he is dating the girl of his dreams Anne.

Sure there are a few cracks in the Façade. Dan won’t shut up about how great his job is and Anne shares a house with her ex-boyfriend who, truth be told, is far better suited to her than Neil. And then there is his alcohol intake, which his friends would argue is getting excessive. But generally he has little to complain, that is, until the bomb is dropped.

Prostitute, Dawn Richards, is missing and circumstantial evidence surrounding her disappearance leads Neil to suspect that his brother Michael may be involved. The suspicion could be dismissed, were it not that certain elements of the case echo back to a shared childhood trauma that has become a taboo of which they do not speak.

With no one to confide in, Neil is forced to figure out alone whether his suspicions are genuine or merely cannabis-fueled paranoia. As his life begins to unravel at an alarming pace, it seems Neil must at last do the unthinkable: Grow up or die trying.