**FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock are joined by one of their
own and a Virginia sheriff in an extraordinary case that immerses them
in the world of psychic visions, mind benders, and communications with
the dead
**
It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and
Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband,
renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his
murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with
friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that
she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around
her-tourists, seals on a barge-and for a moment enjoys the sheer
normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end.
Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who
distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and
throwing her the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney
Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant,
Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he
save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her
assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector
while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation.
Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble-last seen in Point
Blank-still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished hree years earlier.
His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San
Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to
Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that
she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own
eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross.
With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San
Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind
Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's
attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex
world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise,
Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers-and their lives.