In coastal Santa Rita, California, the horrifyingly similar murders of three women has the District Attorney's office reeling, and the rising political heat only adds to the juggling act of Assistant D.A. Kathryn Mackay -- a divorced mother determined to make her mark in a testosterone-driven field. But when she's tapped to lead the investigation, Mackay discovers that everyone has an agenda: the ratings-hungry TV newsman who knows more about the D.A.'s moves than any outsider should; the brilliant mind-hunter from the state capital, who's eager to apply his psychological profiling techniques; and the killer himself, who begins to send Mackay cryptic, taunting notes. ""Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man."" And run she does -- after false leads and obscure clues, through a gauntlet of media and political pressure, into the dark tunnels of the killer's brain. As Mackay closes in, she must fight the suffocating fear that she's engaged in a deadly "pas de deux" with the killer, who's carefully stalking his fourth victim: her.