How could Chas Winter, as a brash lad of seventeen, have foreseen that the brutal bullying of Donald Bracken would alter the course of both their lives?

Incensed by the unwarranted beating, Donald vowed to make the bullies pay. Tormented by his peers, his hatred spreads like insidious cancer invading his thoughts night and day. Compelled to prepare for his payback, ( utu,), the weedy teen joins the Army and becomes a highly skilled assassin. With his skills honed, he returns to New Zealand and the serial killings begin.

Detective Senior Sergeant Chas Winter is provided with professional opportunity when a missing person's case mutates into a murder inquiry. The killings escalate. Confronted with a serial killer, Chas's efforts to unmask the offender are frustrated by the lack of physical evidence. He realizes he is dealing with a highly skilled professional whose actions deny investigators evidence. A psychopath is playing out his own game.