We've heard this story before... girl gets involved with a cult and is brain washed into believing she's discovered the Messiah. Parents are alarmed and do everything they can to bring her back and de-program her. Maybe Patty Hearst is the poster girl for this scenario. But Greg Hurwitz takes us into the depth of the issue way beyond the headlines.

It makes for a wrenching mystery with sustained suspense as bad-boy lawman Tim Rackley is re-deputized into the U.S. Marshals Service and is tasked to penetrate a growing operation in mind-control in order to extract 19-year old Leah Henning, the daughter of a powerful and tyrranical Hollywood producer for post-cult therapy. Will Henning's insufferable bearing has a lot to do with why his daughter sought refuge in "The Program," in the first place. Tim Rackley, undercover as Tom Altman, has as much difficulty with daddy's demands as he does with "The Teacher," aka, T.D. Betters, the messianic, street smart leader who devised the cult and has remained outside the reach of the law.

Rackley, who's wife Dray is a lawman in her own right, bears the understanding and patience required while her husband is "inside" the cult and vulnerable. Rackley soon finds his target and is prepared for an unwilling extraction but, when things don't go so smoothly, his tactics turn to neutralizing the girl's deep indoctrination. In order to do that, Rackley's own immersion into the terrors of mind manipulation challenges all his Ranger training to keep his true identity and values intact.