(Hardboiled crime) Imagine a serial rapist and killer, seemingly dormant for years, stirring again. After throwing two Mississippi counties into a frantic tailspin, he migrates to New Orleans. What better killing ground than the nation's murder capital-not to mention its dismal arrest and conviction rates-for a homicidal beast to satiate his uncensored cravings at will? As corpses pile up in Jackson, and narcotics agent Bo Landry loses his job, he finds himself starting anew in the Big Easy. A year passes. And just as Bo is launching a new career as a private investigator, he finds himself mired in fresh horrific killings. Because the connections to the Mississippi bloodbath are unmistakable to the authorities, they come to the chilling realization that the same lunatic, who earlier struck in Mississippi with devastating brutality and cunning, now lurks in the dark recesses of New Orleans. Two young women have been savagely raped and slaughtered, and a third has drawn the focus of the beast's depraved lust. An aura of terror and death encircles Bo Landry. Blood and destruction follow him everywhere. Is he an unfortunate victim crippled by the backlash, or is each frightening catastrophe wielded by his deadly hand?