Thirteen bodies are discovered inside a small Louisville restaurant just after closing time. The ferocity and apparent randomness of the crime prompt the police to call in criminology professor Daniel Millikan-they want a profile of the murderer. Millikan determines that the crime was committed not by a psychopath but by a professional killer of consummate skill and total lack of feeling: “I think that the one who did it is one of the special cases. He’s somebody we can’t afford to have walking down a street where our families walk.” When Millikan learns that the investigation has come to a complete standstill, he commits himself to an unorthodox decision. The only hope of stopping this killer and ending the bloodshed is to employ Roy Prescott, an expert in the narrow specialty of hunting down murderers through methods the police can’t-and wouldn’t-use.

And so begins a stunning novel by Thomas Perry, “one of the most thoroughly satisfying writers around” (Lawrence Block), a death match fought from one end of the country to the other by two enemies who both understand that only one of them will be alive at the end.

Praise for Thomas Perry

“[Thomas Perry is a] master of nail-biting suspense.” -Los Angeles Times

“Perry never lets up on the suspense . . . masterful.” -Booklist, about Death Benefits

“Explosive . . . the breathless, knowing prose is pitch-perfect.” -Kirkus Reviews, about Dance for the Dead

\“Thomas Perry just keeps getting better.” -Tony Hillerman, about Sleeping Dogs

“A fascinating tale written by one of America’s finest storytellers.” -San Francisco Examiner, about Shadow Woman

“Perry’s writing is as sharp as a sushi knife.” -Los Angeles Times, about Blood Money

“As beautifully crafted as a good automatic weapon.” -Martin Cruz Smith, about Sleeping Dogs

“Dazzles like a house of mirrors.” -Martha Grimes, about Shadow Woman

“Thomas Perry is truly an original.” -Jonathan Kellerman

“Terrific . . . dazzling ingenuity.” -The New York Times Book Review, about The Face-Changers

Author Biography

Thomas Perry is the author of eleven earlier novels, including the national bestseller Death Benefits; the Edgar Award-winning thriller The Butcher’s Boy and its sequel, Sleeping Dogs; the New York Times Notable Book Metzger’s Dog; and the five novels of the Jane Whitefield series, beginning with Vanishing Act, selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century. He lives in California with his wife and two daughters.

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