New York rule #1: Don't make eye contact...

Samantha Leiffer has a self-centered self-help guru for a mother, a cadre of off-kilter Greenwich Village pals, and an ambisexually-cheating ex-boyfriend. She doesn't need more grief. Then she spies two people dumping a dubious- looking ice chest into the Hudson River, and she has a chilling hunch about what's inside.

Not being the kind of girl to let two psychos get away with murder, Sam sets out to unravel a mystery-and is soon being stalked by a sinister, shadowy figure who's wearing one-of- a-kind mirrored contact lenses.

Now, aided by a tough (but still very hot) detective, Sam is poking into some unsavory places, and finding out more creepy stuff than she ever wanted to know.