Synopsis
Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead but her life was shattered forever. Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again. She dreams about placing the cold steel between her lips and pulling the trigger one last time. Because for a woman who s lost everything, what is there left to lose? She s about to find out.In all her years at the Bureau, Smoky has never encountered anyone like him a new and fascinating kind of monster, a twisted genius who defies profilers attempts to understand him. And he s issued Smoky a direct challenge, coaxing her back from the brink with the only thing that could convince her to live.The killer videotaped his latest crime an act of horror that left a child motherless then sent a message addressed to Agent Smoky Barrett...
Patrick Andrson
Many readers who will be put off by the novel's violence might, if they give it a chance, find relief in the sensitivity Mcfadyen gives Barrett. Few men who write serial-killer novels have created a woman of such depth … if you can handle the violence, it will be among the best crime fiction you will read this year.— The Washington Post