Samantha Kincaid is a divorced Deputy DA in Portland's Vice and Drugs Division. Kincaid has developed her own niche within the division prosecuting the monsters who lure and coerce girls and young women into prostitution. Thirteen year old Kendra Martin is abducted, drugged and anally raped, and the victim identifies Frank Derringer, on parole for similar crimes, as her attacker. But there's no corroborating evidence except a single, partial fingerprint, and the state's case looks even shakier after Martin changes her story. Tough and determined, Kincaid gathers her evidence and builds her case, refusing to be deflected even when she discovers that she must work with her former lover, detective Forbes of Portland's Major Crimes Team. But when her home is ransacked and a carving knife plus threatening note left in the icebox, it seems that someone is prepared to get very personal indeed in order to shut her up. Fluently written, stuffed with authentic detail, well plotted and characterised, with a warm, sympathetic heroine and a good final twist, Alafair Burke's debut thriller has broad appeal and marks the beginning of a great new career.