The case of the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Susan Blacklock remains unsolved. The main suspects - rapists and murderers Shane Donald and Alan McKernan - have been in prison for a long time for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT crime. But the old story haunts detective Frank Elder. He suspects: the past is necessary WILL RETURN. And one day his suspicions grow into certainty. Soon after Donald's escape, the police find the monstrously mutilated body of another girl, and Elder has every reason to believe that the next one on the bloody list is HIS OWN DAUGHTER...