Writer Tim Underhill, the haunted Vietnam-vet hero of Koko, has been summoned by childhood friend John Ransom to his home town of Millhaven, the site of old horrors now plagued by new demons. After decades of silence, it appears that the Blue Rose killer has struck again - brutally murdering Ransom's wife. Assisted in his search for the truth by the reclusive amateur detective Tom Pasmore, Underhill is swiftly drawn into a dark labyrinth of lies and deceit, each turn punctuated by jolting shocks, leading inexorably back to the terrors of his own past - to mysterious events in the jungles of Vietnam; to the day he witnessed the killing of his young sister; and to the ensuing series of murders that rocked the city.