New York police detective Ellie Hatcher is back after her debut in Dead Connection. This time she is investigating the murder of an adventurous college student from the Midwest who has become the victim of her own sense of youthful invulnerability. After leaving a club in the early hours before dawn, the best night of her life turns out to be her last.

Ellie has risen fast through the ranks, but has a lot to prove before being accepted by her colleagues. Fortunately, she is partnered with a man who recognizes her potential and has the good sense to back her up as she handles a hot potato of a case--even when she sticks her neck out, pursuing connections to cold cases, racing to prevent the next murder.

Though billed as a thriller and burdened with standard-issue chapters written from the point of view of a serial killer--a convention that should have been retired to the Museum of Crime Fiction Cliches long ago--the real strength of the book is in its procedural elements, which are authentic and engaging.