Dobson, New York, 1905. Detective Simon Ziehl lost his fiancée in the sinking of the General Slocum. That summer day in 1904, a fire broke out aboard a ship in the East River, killing thousands. Unable to accept his loss, Ziehl transferred to the Police Department north of New York to escape the city, which brought back terrible memories. But after just a couple of months of new life in a quiet small town, the detective is faced with the most horrific murder of his career. In her own bedroom, in the middle of a quiet and calm winter day, young Sarah Wingate was brutally murdered. On the very first day of the investigation, the famous criminologist at Columbia University, Alistair Sinclair, contacts Simon. He makes a startling assumption about one of his patients, Michael Fromley: the details of the murder are inexplicably similar to Fromley's deranged muttering. But what made Fromley, with his aggressive behavior and violent fantasies, seek out Sarah - a promising mathematics student and an exemplary young lady who has nothing in common with his previous goals? Is Fromley really the killer, or is this the work of a copycat? This is what Simon Ziel has to find out with the help of the brilliant but selfish Alistair Sinclair. Before the killer strikes again.