Over
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.

© Copyright 2003 by Ballantine Books.