We always kill the thing we love. An ex-college professor turned freelance journalist, Liz Connors used to make a good living writing about true crime. But the recession has visited Liz with a vengeance. The magazine that is her main source of income has folded, and her financial future looks grim. So when Griffin Marcus, an extraordinarily successful true-crime writer, asks her to work with him on a book about a series of grisly slayings known as the Merrimack Valley killings, she's game. Someone out there is killing good Catholic girls and posing their mutilated bodies at various scenic points along the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with decorative green ribbons tied prettily around their necks. Marcus and the police are certain they have their man - a sleazeball named Henry Kmiec with an unsavory penchant for dead prostitutes. But Liz isn't satisfied. Something doesn't feel right about the case, and besides, it's never been her nature to leave well enough alone. Pulling on a few loose threads, Liz comes upon some evidence that points her in a whole new direction. What happens next is a series of startling events that lead Liz deeper and deeper into the dark psyche of a serial killer into a world where pain is the currency and death the ultimate price. Here is a realistic and truly frightening mystery thriller from one of the major up-and-coming masters of the genre.