Cornwell brings back the ever-popular Dr. Kay Scarpetta for a 17th adventure with her newest work. The good doctor has now settled into a position as a part time medical examiner with the New York Crime Scene department. On the side, she is also a senior analyst for CNN, covering topics relating to forensics.

The story revolves around two unique murders. One involves the mysterious murder of a jogger found in Central Park. It quickly becomes clear that her time of death was much earlier than expected and that she hadn't actually been killed in the park. The other victim is Hannah Starr, a successful financial planner who has gone missing. In fact, no one is really sure that she is dead. Both cases have caught the attention of the public.

This is one of the reason why one of Scarpetta's CNN colleagues is willing to risk her ire by asking about the details of the cases despite an agreement with the station about how she cannot talk about active cases. In her anger, Kay leaves behind her cell phone, which has a lot of important case information on it that is not protected by a password.

Lucy Farinelli, Scarpetta's niece who is also helping to look into the disappearance of Haley Starr, is brought in to help find the phone before too much damage can be done. Detective Pete Marino, Lucy's girlfriend ADA Jaime Berger, and Kay's husband Benton Wesley all help Kay in zeroing in on what is really going on.

Little do they know, that path will lead them into Kay's past and an enemy long thought gone. The story quicks up its pace as it heads toward a stunning and intense climax that allows this book to be one of the best of Cornwell's recent works, which have suffered from flatter storylines and way too much narration.

For a while it has seemed that Cornwell had fallen off her game. These two most recent editions in the series have highlighted what has made her one of the most popular mystery writers in America.