When Dallas FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway violates serial killer Raymond
Starkey's civil rights during an unorthodox arrest, Starkey goes free and
Mackelway is demoted to a remote branch of the agency in Albuquerque.
His first day on the job, Mackelway investigates the murder of a traveling
salesman Harold Speck, which turns out to be the first of three seemingly
random killings. Or perhaps they are not random at all; the last to die is
Mackelway's nemesis, Raymond Starkey. The assignment consumes him.
His past mistakes haunt him. His head throbs constantly as he tries to find
the link between the victims that will lead him to their killer. The case
becomes increasingly gruesome and patently personal. This does not go
unnoticed by his unflappable partner Fran Kulok, who knows of Mackelway's
past and the demons that afflict him. Like Mackelway, she becomes drawn
into the labyrinth of chilling clues, all of which point to the enigmatic
Benjamin O'Ryan. O'Ryan clearly has a connection to the murders, a
connection he flaunts; quite possibly, he may also harbor a sinister link to
Mackelway.