It has been two decades since Detective Francis X. Loughlin solved his first big case, the brutal murder of a woman doctor. The young man convicted of the killing, Julian Vega, is back on the streets now, released on a technicality after years of appeals.Not long after his release, another murder takes place, one so similar to that long-ago case that Julian is the first suspect in Detective Loughlin+s sights.

However, the DNA evidence that is now a routine part of policework points in an impossible direction. If the evidence is correct, Loughlin has to rethink decades of certainty-and Julian may be the only person alive who can help him make it through this case.

With his laser-sharp vision for motives and secrets of human nature, Peter Blauner has crafted a crime story of the highest order, in which the ending is an unguessable shock and the characters are unforgettably real. Blauner is at the top of his form in this chilling tour de force, a novel that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.