The Programme

When Matthew Crane seeks help from the respected family-run law firm of Arnotts in a dispute over property, it never looks like a straightforward case. For Matthew is the charismatic founder and teacher of the quasi-religious cult known as The Programme, and, inevitably, a controversial figure. In spite of her brother's opposition and her father's disquiet, Carey Arnott takes the case and finds herself both attracted to Matthew and drawn into The Programme. But The Programme's darker forces are at work. An inner circle, led by Cassandra, Matthew's sensual wife, is more interested in personal power, money and sexual gratification than in enhancement of self. And Carey finds herself, her family and the firm caught up in an emotional maelstrom that, it seems, can only end in devastating violence. Andrew Arden - under his own name and writing as Bernard Bannerman - has published seven previous novels. He is a practising barrister.