Synopsis
A serial killer watches and waits. Each time, he takes two victims, preparing the first's body with all the clues the police need to find the second - who is still alive. The clock ticks, and the second one can still be saved. But the police never make it in time. The second one dies. For years, the killer has plagued the city with the same pattern, but the police never pick up on it quickly enough. Now, two girls have disappeared in the midst of a daunting heat wave. Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy knows the killer's deadline can be met. But she'll have to break some rules in order to beat an exceedingly vicious criminal at a game he's had years to perfect.
Publishers Weekly
A cold case grows hot again in Gardner's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce Quincy, former FBI profiler turned PI, last seen in The Next Accident. She's a tough, troubled young woman still recovering from the murders of her mother and sister six years earlier. During week nine of the FBI Academy's 16-week training program in Virginia, she discovers the body of a young woman who looks like her late sister. Since the corpse has been dumped on a secured Marine base, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is in charge, but determined Kimberly soon takes a leave of absence so she can team up with Michael "Mac" McCormack, visiting Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, along with her father and his partner, Rainie Connor, to prevent another death. Mac receives taunting mail and cell phone messages ("planet dying... animals weeping... rivers screaming... can't you hear it? Heat kills") that lead him to suspect a serial eco-killer who last struck in Georgia three years earlier, leaving seven dead women and one survivor. Sparks fly between Kimberly and Mac as they rush to rescue the eco-killer's latest victim, Tina Krahn. Gardner offers riveting glimpses of Tina's struggle to survive in an environmentally hazardous locale. With tight plotting, an ear for forensic detail and a dash of romance, this is a truly satisfying sizzler in the tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag. Major ad/promo. (July 15) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.