Trails all lead to a serial killer's dumping ground out in the Mohave desert near Las Vegas. Two separate investigations focus there in hopes of tracking down an ex-FBI agent whose training and psychosis has turned him into one of the most effective and untouchable serial killers: Bob Backus, aka, The Poet. One of his pursuers is also one of his trainees, agent Rachel Walling who, in shooting and nearly killing him 4 years ago, became one of his most desired targets. His other pursuer is Harry Bosch, brought into the case by the widow of his best friend and dead partner, Terry McCaleb.

Graciela McCaleb knows that Bosch is likely to dig deeper than the FBI, which has wanted to believe that The Poet is dead and the case closed. Until, that is, their nemesis shows he's still alive by getting back into play by sending a GPS reader set on the remote "Zzyzx" road in Nevada near the California border. The Global Positioning System device shows up with Backus' thumbprint and everyone know he doesn't make mistakes. It's an announcement and an invitation and, before agent Ralling is asked to leave her outpost in Rapid City and join the case team in Nevada, bodies have been discovered.

When Bosch shows up at the site, lead there by Terry McCaleb's private files and a set of mysterious photos, he's already a step or two ahead of the FBI, and he gets his first look at Walling, immediately detecting a harmonious spirit. Despite the FBI's rejection of his superior investigative skills and generally embarassing one-upmanship on them, the interchange with Walling will not be their last in this complex cat-and-mouse chase to finally close the evil career of her mentor.

Connelly puts his fully developed characters into a twisting mixmaster of a crime-stopping effort with masterful control and solid dramatic structure. He's one of the ablest mystery writers and one of the few who can keep me up past my bedtime. My strongest advice is to read him before Clint Eastwood gets his chops on Connelly's superb material.