Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Boston; one that at first appears as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team - Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli - to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.