Nearly a year has passed since the sensational Dermott case, and retired NYPD superstar detective Dave Gurney is trying once again to live a quiet life in the country with his wife Madeleine. However, when a young bride is gruesomely murdered at her own wedding reception on her new husband's country estate, Dave finds an invitation to join the investigation irresistible. He soon discovers that what seemed at first the senseless act of a deranged illegal-alien gardener is part of a far more complicated puzzle...As Dave peels the layers of the onion, he enters a hellish world of sadistic manipulation, multiple murders, and an appalling criminal enterprise where no one is who they seem to be - all orchestrated by the cleverest mind he has ever encountered.