After twenty-fives years on the job, NYPD Lieutenant Greg Webster retired to a small Kansas college to teach classes in Criminal Justice. Webster looked forward to the move as a well-deserved rest for himself and his social-worker wife, Carolyn. Unfortunately, before even a year had passed Carolyn was dead, killed in an apparent hit-and-run accident. Though dazed and heartbroken, Greg suspected nothing sinister about her death until, as a class project, one of Webster's students began researching local violent deaths and Carolyn's accident began to look more and more like the latest in a series of murders.

But why would a successful serial killer tempt fate by targeting the wife of a retired police officer? Maybe because it was all becoming too easy for him, too many easy targets. Now the murderer wanted more of a challenge, an opponent tougher than the local campus cops. But in taking on Greg Webster the Watcher has made a serious mistake. He should have heeded the old warning: Be careful what you wish for.