A young American tennis player was mercilessly murdered in Rome. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, who arrived in Italy from the USA for a symposium on the problems of forensic medicine, is brought in as a consultant... Returning to her homeland, Kay discovers a connection between this crime and the murder of a boy, whose tortured body was found in a swamp near the city. Soon, to these two crimes, a third is added - the brutal murder of a woman in a luxurious seaside mansion... Scarpetta has had to deal with serial killers before. But never before has the mystery been so close - and so far away. After all, not every maniac tracks down his victim in dark, back alleys . Sometimes he walks next to you...