Dr. Dean Graves is notorious for being the medical examiner that gets assigned the wackiest accidental death cases in Georgia. But even as the detectives on those cases can’t hold in their laughter, Dr Graves finds nothing funny about death and shows great respect for the dead at all times. When a new serial killer chooses Augusta as his playground, Dr. Graves and his assistant, Kat, get pulled into the investigation, throwing everything they have into finding the murderer before he strikes again. But Dr. Graves’ determination and Kat’s concern about the dangerous situations he’s putting himself in threaten to ruin their friendship.

Carter Ridge witnesses something awful when he’s only eight years old, and his reaction is anything but normal. He hides his strange proclivities well, though—until he grows up and his need for revenge brings out the monster inside him. Carter chooses his victims from local bars. Each successive murder only serves to fuel the flames of his sadistic need to torture and kill the men that remind him of his abusive stepdad.

Told in alternating chapters, see inside the heads of the killer and the straitlaced medical examiner desperate to catch him as they head toward a collision course that will make your heart race.