Demon Seed:Into The Fire:The Lost Daughter.

Cathy fell pregnant when she was just sixteen years old. Her own mother knew Cathy would not be able to care for baby Alexis so she was given up for adoption at nine months old. That must have been traumatic enough for all involved but, thirty-five years later - after no contact with Alexis, Cathy received a letter from the adoption agency.

It told her that Alexis, whose name had been changed to Aundria, had gone missing twenty-one years ago when she was fourteen years old. An unidentified body, a Jane Doe, had been found near a cornfield and the authorities thought it might be Alexis/Aundria and that a sample of Cathy's DNA may help to identify her. Spoiler alert. It was not.

Netflix's Into The Fire:The Lost Daughter (directed by Ryan White) is a story that flits from Michigan to Virginia and back again as well as occasionally reaching into other parts of America. It's a story about a missing child, very likely a murdered child and it's bravely narrated by Cathy (with her husband Eddie at her side at times). It's a case that wasn't so much unsolved as much as it's a case that was never really investigated and it's a story that is weighed down with sadness, and a sense of horror, from the very start.

It's a story that you suspect, from the onset, will be mind-blowing and upsetting and it certainly is that. It's a story that takes in the adoptive parents (Dennis and Brenda Bowman - and it's no spoiler to tell you that Dennis soon becomes prime suspect), Aundria's friends with whom she used to listen to Madonna and Cyndi Lauper with, drugs, shoplifting, Facebook, spreadsheets, the geography of Lake Michigan, prisons, cold cases that suddenly get very warm again, people running away to New Orleans, multiple Jane Does, controlling behaviour, some very astute and admirably methodical detectives, correction centres, and, quite remarkably, children taken into the woods to stroke imaginary puppies.

Aundria is described as "the sweetest kid that ever walked" and "a gift from God" and this all sets you up to expect to find something truly terrible became of her. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that that's probably the case but you're never quite sure if you're being set up for a twist or not. One thing is sure though. Bad things have happened, very bad things, and not just to Alexis/Aundria. There are some demons out there among us. Into The Fire:The Lost Daughter doesn't shy away from that. It's an interesting watch but maybe don't watch straight before bedtime.