The story starts with Ray taking a picture and then pondering what he thinks he sees on the ground, and the result is a view of the mystery itself.
“Sometimes, in that split second, when Ray Levine snapped a picture and lost the world in the strobe from his flashbulb, he saw the blood. He knew, of course, that it was only in his mind’s eye, but at times, like right now, the vision was so real he had to lower his camera and take a good hard look at the ground in front of him.”
Megan Pierce, a former stripper who went by the name of Cassie, had left her life and relationship with Ray Levine behind her right after her client Steward Green disappeared and was assumed dead. She rebuilt her life, becoming a mother of two children, married to a successful lawyer, and living in suburbia.
Megan, who seems bored with her new life, goes to a business meeting in Atlantic City and, during a break, goes to her former club, La Crème. She meets up with and learns from Lorraine Griggs, a former colleague, that Stewart Green might still be alive after 17 years and that on the same date he disappeared, Carlton Flynn has just vanished in ways that seem to tie in with Green’s disappearance.
Detective Jack Broome is working on a group of cold cases that all have similarities to the Steward Green case, and his path has led him to search for Cassie, now Megan. The most current victim’s father has hired two young killers, Ken and Barbie, to search for the killer of Carlton Flynn. The entry of these two sadistic killers into the plot brings a twisted, scary threat to unexpected players in the field.
Coben’s story of what comes from looking into cold cases is not new, and in some ways, this plot is predictable, but the story has some real irony, and it holds your interest with surprises coming to the very end.