Marks the return of Nicholas Newman, the architect protagonist of the bestselling The Amethysts, which the critics called 'unforgettable'. Played out in the arena of football, Pearl is a compelling story in which the past rises to dominate the present and perhaps the future. Nicholas Newman, affluent, successful, but emotionally unresolved, is a reluctant discoverer of events which took place during the Second World War. Placed under huge moral pressure by the terms of a dead friend's bequest, he stumbles upon a secret that directs the violence on the football terraces of Europe. One of his clients holds the key. Johan Pearl -- 'the Black Pearl' -- a Dutch international footballer has commissioned Newman to design his house. With the plans comes extraordinary violence and Nicholas Newman is once again at the centre of a psychological mystery that he can only resolve by examining his own life.