SummaryOver the course of twenty acclaimed novels of suspense,
most recently The Murder Book and A Cold Heart, New York
Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman has pitted
psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware against adversaries as
disturbed and dangerous as Delaware is clever and
compassionate. Now in Kellerman's gripping new novel, a
different hero will hold the reader spellbound: a dedicated
young psychologist, unschooled in the ways of violent crime
and incalculable evil--until his life is irreversibly
touched by both . . . and he is thrust into a chilling hunt
for a twenty-first-century Jack the Ripper. When his brief, passionate romance with nurse Jocelyn Banks
is cut short by her kidnapping and brutal murder, Dr.
Jeremy Carrier is left emotionally devastated, haunted by
his lover's grisly demise and warily eyed by police still
seeking a prime suspect in the unsolved slaying. To escape
the pain, he buries himself in his work as staff
psychologist at City Central Hospital--only to be drawn
deeper into a waking nightmare when more women turn up
murdered in the same gruesome fashion as Jocelyn
Banks . . . and the suspicion surrounding Jeremy
intensifies. Now, the only way to prove his innocence and
put his torment to rest is to follow the trail of a cunning
psychopath. Spurring on Jeremy's investigation is Dr. Arthur Chess, an
enigmatic pathologist who specializes in examining the
dead, but harbors a keen fascination with the darker deeds
committed by the living. Arthurdraws Jeremy into an
unexpected friendship, and into the confidence of a cryptic
society devoted to matters unknown and unspoken. When he
suddenly slips away, Jeremy is left to contend with an
onslaught of anonymous clues--and the growing realization
that a harrowing game of cat and mouse has been set in
motion. But who besides Jeremy is playing--and who is making the
rules? Before the killer strikes again, Jeremy races to
connect the disturbing puzzle pieces being fed to him. Yet
his search for answers only seems to yield more questions.
And deepening the mystery is the undeniable presence of
someone watching it all--and guiding Jeremy's investigation
from behind the scenes. As the game intensifies, Jeremy
must decide if a secret ally is setting him on the right
path . . . or a sadistic enemy is setting him up for a fate
far beyond even the most twisted imagination.
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