Publisher Description
When a building bursts into flames on a cold winter night in Washington, DC, investigators see a resemblance to a string of recent fires in the area. There is one difference, however: this one has a human casualty. The local team insists they're looking for a young white male, suffering from an uncontrollable impulse to act out his anger or sexual aggression. But when FBI special agent Maggie O'Dell is called in, everything she sees leads her to believe that this is the work of a calculating and controlled criminal.
Jeffery Cole, a reporter looking for his big break, is at the scene of the crime and decides to make Maggie part of his news piece, digging up aspects of her past that she would rather forget. As the fires continue to light up around the city, Maggie also crosses paths with her brother Patrick, now back in DC and working as a fire-fighter.
As the acts of arson become more brazen Maggie's professional and personal worlds are set on a dangerous collision course. Little does she realise that the killer may be closer than she imagines...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A serial arsonist is torching empty warehouses in areas of Washington, D.C., where the homeless take shelter in bestseller Kava's strong 10th Maggie O'Dell novel (after 2011's Hotwire). When the remains of two bodies, both severely beaten, turn up at the arson sites, the emotionally frayed Maggie must put the pieces together, despite being under pressure from her sadistic and politically motivated boss, injured by flying glass from an explosion, and tormented by memories of an earlier, horrific case. Might the arsonist and the killer be one and the same? FBI profiler Maggie works seamlessly with Julia Racine, a brash D.C. homicide detective with a wicked attitude, not only to track the arsonist, whose activities are escalating, but also to outfox an egotistical and ruthlessly ambitious journalist. Amid a barrel full of red herrings and a cluttered cast of characters, the suspenseful plot builds to a finale that offers an irresistible lure to Maggie's next outing. 6-city author tour.
