From Shirley Kennett, author of the highly acclaimed Fire Cracker and Gray Matter, comes an electrifying new suspense novel featuring her smart, engaging cybersleuth PJ Gray. A string of seemingly unrelated murders baffles the St. Louis police until PJ Gray, psychologist and pioneer in forensic computer simulation, detects a pattern. As head of the Computerized Homicide Investigations Department, PJ has already cracked a number of cases using an innovative virtual reality program that allows her to "see" the murders from the victim's or killer's perspective. And while PJ uses her keyboard, her partner and friend, Detective Lea Schultz, uses old-fashioned legwork to sift through the grisly pieces of this puzzling case.
But the truth is more shocking than either of them could ever have imagined. For the killer is a friend of PJ's son -- and he is 12 years old. His name is Columbus Wade, and although in reality he is a seventh grade misfit, in virtual reality, he is the ruler of a gruesome alternate universe, a secret cyber world where he rehearses his brutal murder. And PJ's son may be his next victim -- unless she can beat Columbus at his own deadly game.