Every murder tells a story. Some stories never end . . . In a remote northern Vermont town, college student Rachel Rath is being watched. She can feel the strangers eyes on her, relentless and possessive. And shes sure the man watching her is the same man who killed her mother and father years ago: Ned Preacher, a serial rapist and murderer who gamed the system to get a light sentence. Now, hes free. Detective Frank Rath adopted Rachel, his niece, after the shocking murder of her parents when she was a baby. Ever since, Raths tried to protect her from the true story of her parents deaths. But now Preacher is calling Rath to torment him. Hes threatening Rachel and plotting cruelties for her, of the flesh and of the mind. When other girls are found brutally murdered, and a woman goes missing, Rath and Detective Sonja Test must untangle the threads that tie these new crimes and some long-ago nightmares together. Soon they will learn that the truth is more perverse than anyone could guess, rife with secrets, cruel desires, and warped, deadly loyalty.