In 1977, the author was taken to Castlereagh Interrogation Centre, Belfast, and was tortured for four days in an attempt to elicit confessions to terrorism.

In 1980 O'Connor made history by becoming the first person to win a civil case for torture against the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In this book, Bernard O'Connor tells of the trauma he suffered at the hands of the state and charts his triumphant recovery to a new life.