#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, unputdownable thriller featuring iconic forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

OF ALL THE CREATURES IN THE WORLD, ONLY HUMANS HAVE THE CAPACITY FOR EVIL…

Small animals – a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel – have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Tory, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human?

Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someone’s pet. As someone who has always found animal cruelty deeply abhorrent, she vows to help apprehend the person responsible for the killings. With her layered knowledge of animal behaviour, Tory becomes a valuable ally in the hunt for answers, as does semi-retired homicide detective Erskine ‘Skinny’ Slidell, who is equally outraged and committed.

Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe and Skinny seek input from a forensic psychologist, who has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities. The escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries – and that the perp’s focus may soon shift to humans.

And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the earlier killings. As Tempe and Slidell follow the horrifying clues to a shocking conclusion, they find themselves force to confront an increasingly terrifying question.

What is pure evil?

PRAISE FOR KATHY REICHS:

‘This page-turning series never lets the reader down’ HARLAN COBEN

‘One of my favourite writers’ KARIN SLAUGHTER

‘Kathy Reichs and Tempe Brennan have thrilled readers with pacey, mazey tales . . . We readers are truly grateful’ IAN RANKIN