Alex Cross and his best friend John Sampson are drawn into the center of a series of murders that have strong ties to members of the U.S. Army that service in Vietnam during the war. It all start when an old friend of Sampson's, Sergeant Cooper, is convicted of murdering three women on the base he is serving out. Cooper is given a death sentence because there is so much convincing evidence of him, but that does not stop Sampson of believing in his innocence ... even once Sampson is put to death.

Unfortunately, Alex and Sampson struggle to learn more about the case and a number of similar ones from across the country. Each officer involved and accused of the crime seems to have a bizarre straw doll and an evil eye in his possession.

In reality, all of the crimes are tied to three paid assassins that got their start when they served together in Vietnma. Now they are doing everything they can to frame the officers invovled while also getting a chance to play with murder.

At home, Alex's Nana is coming to terms with the fact that she is getting older when she starts to have some circulatory problems. This fills Alex with worry. He is also exploring a burgeoning romance with Jamilla, a California-based detective he met in the last book.

Overall, it was a good book, but I found that it lacked the usual oompf of Patterson's book. I am not sure what was off. Maybe the bad guys just were quite twisted enough for his type of book.