A gun dealer is the first to die, his entire stock of weapons cleaned out. But the killer isnt finished yet, as a series of brutal, blood-chilling murders paralyzes the small Southwestern community the maniac has chosen to feed upon. Every stranger is suspect, every house the possible sanctuary of a monster who skillfully eludes each move of his pursuers. With fear electric and crackling in the bone-dry Arizona air, Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County knows that she is the one who must protect the town she was chosen to serve. But her desperate hunt for a murderer is leading her into terrifying places . . . and it threatens to take a terrible personal toll on the people she most dearly loves.