Visiting sixteen-year-old "Rat" Perkins at isolated Evenson boarding school, Maura Isles is astonished to learn that all of his classmates are survivors of violence and are being instructed in scientific detective skills, a discovery that coincides with Jane Rizzoli's investigation into the murder of a boy's foster family.

After two women are killed, medical examiner Maura Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror in a cloistered convent that leads them toward a dawning revelation about the killer's identity -- one that's too shattering to consider.

"The crime scene is unlike any that Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have ever before encountered. The woman lies in apparently peaceful repose on her bed, and Maura finds no apparent cause of death, but there is no doubt the woman is indeed dead. The victim's eyes have been removed and placed in the palm of her hand, a gesture that echoes the terrifying films she produces. Is a crazed movie fan reenacting scenes from those disturbing...

"Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles go into the wild to find a killer. After linking a recent Boston crime to a series of unsolved homicides in wilderness areas across the country and the killings of tourists in the bush of Botswana six years earlier, they plot to cage the hunter before he strikes again"--

"Miranda Wood arrives home to a dark, cold cottage--and her ex-lover, Richard Tremain, lying in her bed, stabbed to death. Miranda is the obvious suspect, and she looks even guiltier when her bail is paid by an anonymous donor. With her world falling apart around her, Miranda is determined to clear her name and discover who killed Richard. But proving her innocence may become secondary to staying alive..."--Jacket.