It is the week before Christmas. The effects of the economic crisis have forced Dr. Kay Scarpetta to offer her services for free at the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. But very soon, her increased exposure seems to trigger a series of dramatic and unsettling events. She is asked on live broadcast about the high-profile case of Hannah Starr, who has disappeared and is presumed dead. A few minutes later, during the same broadcast, she receives a chilling call from Benton Wesley’s former psychiatric patient. When she returns after the broadcast to the apartment where she and Benton are staying, she finds a suspicious package - possibly a bomb - waiting for her at the reception desk. Soon, the apparent threat to Scarpetta’s life entangles her in a deadly scheme involving a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sexual crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionairess, with whom Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy, appears to have shared a secret past...