Edgar Award winner Jonathan Kellerman once moreexplores the corruption of California's goldencoast and produces a novel of complexcharacterizations and nonstop suspense.By the time psychologist Dr. AlexDelaware reached the school the damage was done:A sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground,but was gunned down before any children werehurt.Whilethe TV news crews feasted on the scene an Alexbegan his therapy sessions with the traumatizedchildren, he couldn't escape the image of a slightteenager clutching an oversized rifle. What was theidentity behind the name and face: a would-beassassin, or just another victim beneath anindifferent California sky?

Intrigued by a request from the sniper's fatherto conduct a "psychological autopsy" ofhis child, Alex begins to uncover a strangepattern of innocence, neglect, and loss. Then suddenlyit is more than a pattern -- it is a trail ofblood. In the dead sniper's past was a dark andvicious plot. And in Alex Delaware's future is thestuff of grown-up nightmares: the face of realhuman evil.

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From the Paperback edition.