"I write these words in warning. Do not make my mistake. I fear, should anyone start along my path, that they will find their fate inexorable. As I have."

When George Sandings is sent to Buenos Aires in the summer of 1816 to deal with the estate of the late Earl Edgar Leer, infamous explorer and hedonist, he sees it as an opportunity to prove himself to his employers and advance his career.

However, as he delves deeper into the Earl's dark and immoral life, he discovers that not everything about his death is as natural as it should be. Soon, George begins to suspect that someone - or something - from the Earl's past is following him. Or, perhaps, haunting him.

Is this spectre real? Is this a power that cannot be explained, or merely someone out to sabotage George's career? As George attempts to rationalise what is happening, he must face the possibility that the only rational answer... is the irrational.