Publisher's Synopsis
L.A. has more than its fair share of psychopaths, and no one recognises it more acutely than brilliant psychologist and police consultant Dr. Alex Delaware. Yet Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister that erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, and Alex realises he's been snared in a toxic web of pathology. When the little girl at the centre of the vicious dispute disappears, Alex must work with his long-time friend Detective Milo Sturgis, braving an obstacle course of Hollywood washouts and self-serving jurists, in order to save an innocent life from the darkest impulses of human nature.