Kay Scarpetta steps over the threshold of a new life after her work as Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner comes to a jarring end. She's settling into a career as a private forensic consultant in Florida, deep into a case that left her colleagues in Louisiana profoundly disturbed. Then she receives chilling news: From his cell on death row, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne - the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman, who pursued her to her very doorstep - has asked to see her. Only to the legendary Dr. Scarpetta will he tell his secrets: the evidence that will bring a global investigation to a swift conclusion. Now she must unravel a twisting conspiracy with an international reach . . . and confront the shock of her life.