LockedInThePress Wiki

Summary
Carl McQuarrie, a fortysomething, recently separated journalist, employed by Brentwood Telegraph, encounters several incidents in the town of Brentwood. He was once successfully married and gained the trust of the public by publishing authentic stories in the Brentwood Telegraph newspaper. However, his life was overturned by the discovery of his wife's affair. Now he must live life as a solitary man, who needs to fight hard to keep his career in journalism.

Plot
Carl McQuarrie was once a high-flying journalist, who won over the public over when he wrote stories. However, after discovering his wife Roberta had an affair and later ran off with someone else, his work began to spiral downhill, as did his life. He developed a drinking problem and always turned up late for work. The only person that cared enough to help him back on his feet was his colleague Jasmine Cheng, who he suspects of having a crush on him. Upon arriving late to work one day, he is almost given the sack by his manager Malcolm Wicks, who is persuaded to give him a second chance, after McQuarrie begs him. Later that day, McQuarrie witnessed someone smashing a pizza shop's window before getting arrested. He follows the offender to the police station, where he tries to question him. However, the offender never responded and when an officer used his name, McQaurrie learnt he was Ryan Reynolds. He delves into Reynolds's life and discovers that most of his relatives have disowned him, his girlfriend is on the verge of leaving him and his friends have all ditched him and his colleagues hate him. The only two that believe he can do no wrong are his deluded parents. He later attends Reynolds' trial, where he watches him being sentenced to six months for vandalism. He writes and publishes the events in on the Brentwood Telegraph website. He next meets a young woman named Sophie Macdonald, after watching her argue with the airport staff and being evicted from the building by the security. He aids in helping her and discovers that she was brought to the country along with several other girls who were employed by Bill Callahan. He helps her escape from Streetwalker Brothel and reunites her with her parents. The next person he meets is Jermaine Carter, who was forced to murder a vicar. He learns his story and comes to the conclusion that his circumstances are similar to Reynolds. His parents are on the edge of disowning him, as all his other relatives have done, his girlfriend's father wants their relationship over and his colleagues dislike him, due to him trying to cause fights with them. He is eventually sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. McQuarrie then encounters a woman named Amy Khan, who was publicly fired from her job by her manager. He discovers that she has been the victim of sexual and verbal abuse and encourages her to report her manager to the police. A protest to get her manager sacked is later held outside her former work, and she gives evidence at his trial. McQuarrie then hears about a robbery at a hardware store and finds one of the criminals called Cody Smith. Without realising, Smith is the illegitimate son of Malcolm Wicks. His colleagues, including Cheng, try to persuade him not to go through with publishing the story, and even though his manager has rejected the idea, he publishes it and is later fired by Wicks, who calls him whilst at home.