Hallam Foe

Ever since his mother's death by drowning, Hallam Foe has been haunted by one question: did she go into the water of her own accord or was she pushed? Hallam is convinced that the latter is true, and even has a prime suspect in mind - Verity, his seductive step-mother. Resorting to a dirty trick to get the evidence, Hallam squats in his tree house with his binoculars and spies on her and the others at his father's country house in the Scottish Highlands. And yet, the more convinced he becomes of Verity's guilt, the more alluring she appears to him. Worried that he will soon be unable to resist her seductive wiles any longer, he rushes off to Edinburgh.
Hallam meets a young hotel worker named Kate on the street who reminds him of his mother and, all of a sudden, Hallam has a new object on which to focus his rather strange interest. Getting himself a job at the same hotel where Kate works, he sits on the building's tower, watching her secretly in her apartment through his binoculars - but not before he has trained his sights on a number of other worthy objects from his perch on the city's rooftops. Hallam is shocked to discover that Kate is having an affair with Alasdair, the hotel manager. Worse still, Alasdair has noticed that they are being watched. By means of a clever ruse, Hallam manages to win Kate over to such an extent that she even keeps him company on his bizarre nightly vigils. But then the demons of his past catch up with him - in the shape of Verity and his father.