When young social worker Raina Hughes arrives at a ramshackle trailer outside of town, she s on a mission to protect a small boy from abusive parents. But when Detective Wade Jackson arrives at the same location hours later, his mission is far grimmer: investigating Raina s murder.
The victim s vicious death is a shocking event for laid-back Eugene, Oregon and even more chilling when one of Jackson s fellow officers suspects an elusive rapist whose appetite is turning murderous. Jackson thinks he s got a tight case against the meth-head dad who menaced Raina, but the evidence seems to leave his suspect in the clear and a homicidal sex offender still on the loose. What Jackson fears is that his new love affair with nurse Kera Kollmorgan may be knocking him off his game. And what he never expects is to find an ally in savvy reporter Sophie Speranza, who may have stumbled on the killer s shocking motive. But even as Jackson and Sophie team up to tighten the noose, their quarry zeroes in on his next victim ready to take his twisted game to the next level.