California, 1985. Four children, running through the woods after
school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth
glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne
Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses
the end of their innocence. What she doesn't yet realize is that
this will mark the end of innocence for a entire community, as the
ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered
in the wake of a serial killer's escalating pattern of destruction.
Vince Leone, a pioneering FBI investigator called in from
Washington to consult on the case, is charged with interpreting
that pattern. He's using a brand-new technique-profiling-to develop
a theory of the murders, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper
into the lives of the four children, and closer to the teacher
whose bond with her traumatized students puts her on a collision
course with the killler.
As new victims are discovered and the media scrutiny of the
investigation bears down on them, both Vince and Anne are unsure if
those who suffer most are the victims themselves, or the family and
friends of the killer--unaware that someone very close to them is a
brutal, calculating psychopath whose reign of terror is only just
getting started.
This was a great police mystery, the characters were believable and
the storyline was interesting. This was a book I could not put
down, with so many twist and turns, you were surprised to the very
end.