Publisher's Synopsis
Introducing a promising new law officer, Marek Novak. Fresh from a stint in the military police and recently married to Claire, the girl of his dreams, a fortuitous opportunity to run for Sheriff of New Hope County falls into his lap. The county, adjoining a major Midwestern city, is idyllic in many ways, although home to a bizarre and unfamiliar crime problem. It's become a challenging place to be in law-enforcement. Marek decides to enter the race, although if he wins, he inherits two grisly murder cases which perplexed and stymied his predecessor, and which will eventually blend and expand into one of the most complicated, long-running serial murder cases imaginable for whoever has to try to solve it: The Jump Rope Murders. As with most serial murders, these are destined to continue open-endedly until someone or something ends the series. The efforts to find the jump rope murderer are complicated by the presence of multiple suspects and extraordinary difficulty in determining the motive for the heinous crimes. Is it some sort of mission-driven killer who hates a category of people, or is it someone who needs to kill these specific victims? Given the nature of the crimes, it could be a so-called hedonistic killer deriving sexual pleasure from the killings. The highly organized killer, striking with incredible effectiveness and leaving no trace of useful physical evidence, all but rules out a visionary killer, some truly psychotic person responding to a demon of his or her own. Otherwise, anything seems possible in this intriguing case, until it eventually comes to a shocking end.
