正当卡特丽娜·肖恩斯基的车在洛杉矶附近荒无人烟的山路上不幸抛锚之际，一辆全新的宾利停下来，女车主表示乐意带她一程，卡特丽娜不由得松了口气。她在车上昏昏入睡，完全没有意识到大车已经方向盘一转，拐入一条荒僻的小路，驶向又黑又冷的地方……

A young woman who disappeared into the inky black night… A retired schoolteacher stabbed to death in broad daylight…Two women butchered in a small-town beauty parlor… The three baffling murder cases are linked only by a perplexing lack of motive, then LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware are called to the scene of a bizarre ‘crime’. A stolen car has been anonymously returned to its owner, undamaged and unblemished – except for a tiny, solitary bloodstain. This miniscule clue is enough to set the pair on a hunt for a multiple killer, from the well-heeled centre of LA society to its desperate edges, even as far as New York where their search thaws out a long-cold case. The killer, however, proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification – and to unmask him, Alex and Milo will have to confront the true face of murderous compulsion…