This book is about horror and innocence, children and death, a firefighter and one young female detective-bulimic and hiding a secret past. A fire in a mid-size town in Connecticut leads Fire Chief Garrett Quinn on a quest for a serial killer with ex-FBI agent, Jobeth Jay Larson, a young woman with a hidden past and a terminal illness. In their search for this serial killer, they discover this is a complex case, involving genetic manipulation and certain fringe elements of the military. They are targets, despite being sent on this mission by the FBI. To add to this, they are attracted to each other and each horrible discovery draws them closer together, but Quinn is determined to go back to his wife and family, despite the lack of love in his marriage.