Nobody notices the homeless. Which is why it took so long to realize that homeless women were being abducted in small towns across the South, then returned unharmed and untouched a few days later. A local police investigation is expanded nationwide by the FBI, and reveals that the abductions have been going on for several years and involve hundreds of homeless women. There's little chance to catch the perpetrators until motive is known. And that's a complete mystery.
Danny Flint and the New Orleans Police High-Profile Crimes Team are pulled into the investigation and quickly develop leads to other, seemingly unconnected, crimes. An assassin attempts to murder one of Danny's analysts, a mental health counselor vanishes, an Illinois State Senator disappears, an FBI Agent is brazenly shot in public, and Sheriff's Deputy Caroline Trudeaux is marked for death. But why?
Follow Danny and his team through the swamps and forests of Louisiana and Mississippi, the deadly corruption of New Orleans politics, an attempted murder of an FBI Agent and the science of forensic anthropology as they try to understand the connections and prevent more disappearances and deaths. Buzz Bakersfield, a young career criminal and lock expert, joins Danny's team as a door-opener - literally. He's kept busy trying to predict the kidnappers' next moves, helping a traumatized friend from his past, and getting to know his new girlfriend. The sex involves sprinkles unless it involves a hearse or maybe a horse's saddle. It's New Orleans, what else would you expect?
The plot twists every other chapter, as the action quickens and becomes more violent. It gets more and more difficult to separate the good guys from the bad ones. And, even when it's over it might not be.