In the sleepy Scottish village of Catrine, the peaceful summer of 1964 is shattered when 12-year-old Arun Khan, his best friend Craig, and two orphans, James and Gavin, all go missing on the same day without a trace.

Little do the police know, the four boys are trapped in the home of Albert “Al” Reid, a respected local benefactor who harbors a dark secret beneath his charming facade—he’s a serial killer who keeps children in his basement as frozen works of art.

When Arun’s mother, Aniqa, has a chance encounter with Al that rouses her suspicions, she begins an obsessive hunt to discover the twisted truths surrounding Al’s mysterious origin in the town. But Aniqa must first reckon with her own past; being an immigrant in a distant land, navigating life as a single parent, and the haunting visions of her late mother plaguing her since Arun’s disappearance.

With atmospheric prose and spine-chilling suspense, The London Cheque tells the story of two mothers separated by time, class, and power—but bound by fate—as they both fight to break the chains of circumstance to get their sons back in their arms again.