SummaryWhen Chicago detective Alec Buchanan is offered a prime
position with the FBI, it is the perfect opportunity to
leave the Windy City and follow in his brothers' footsteps
to the top echelons of law enforcement. But first he must
complete one last assignment (and one that he is not too
happy about): acting as a glorified bodyguard to hotel
heiress Regan Hamilton Madison. The gorgeous exec has
become entangled in some potentially deadly business.
Someone has e-mailed her a graphic crime-scene
photo—and the victim is no stranger.
Regan suspects that the trouble started when she agreed to
help a journalist friend expose a shady self-help guru who
preys on lonely, vulnerable women. In fact, the smooth-as-
an-oil-slick Dr. Lawrence Shields may be responsible for
the death of one of his devotees, which was ruled a
suicide. Hoping to find some damning evidence, Regan
attends a Shields seminar.
At the gathering, the doctor persuades his guests to
partake in an innocent little "cleansing" exercise. He
asks them to make a list of the people who have hurt or
deceived them over the years, posing the question:
Would your world be a better place if these people
ceased to exist? Treating the exercise as a game,
Regan plays along. After ten minutes, Shields instructs
the participants to bring their sheets of paper to the
fireplace and throw them into the flames. But Regan misses
this part of the program when she exits the room to take a
call—and barely escapes a menacing individual in the
parking lot.
The experience is all but forgotten—until the first
person on Regan's list turns up dead. Shock turns to
horror when other bodies from the list start to surface,
as a harrowing tango of desire and death is set into
motion. Now brutal murders seem to stalk her every
move—and a growing attraction to Alec may compromise
her safety, while stirring up tender emotions she thought
she could no longer feel. Yet as the danger intensifies
and a serial killer circles ever closer, Regan must
discover who has turned her private revenge fantasies into
grisly reality.
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