As Lowell begins his investigation he finds himself pitted against powerful industry and development interests, as well as black advocacy groups concerned about jobs, backwoods racists who resent meddlers, and an enigmatic retired baseball Hall-of-Famer nicknamed 'Gator.' The stakes are raised even further, however, when Lowell discovers a second victim at the site of a vast, chemical-filled sinkhole that poses a direct threat to Florida's rapidly vanishing safe-water supply. Determined to catch the killer, Lowell must first survive the hazards of backwoods Florida.