When FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell receives a call from the New Haven County, Connecticut sheriff, she assumes it's a routine tip. She's looking into the case of a missing woman, and it seems her body has been found. But Maggie's about to learn that this is just the tip of the iceberg in what will be one of the most bizarre and confounding cases of her career as a criminal profiler.
During a clean up excavation in a deserted quarry, a fifty-five gallon drum was discovered, containing the remains of a woman. Then more barrels are found, containing more bodies: some of them have been brutally murdered, and some have already been buried. At this grisly discovery, Sheriff Watermeier calls in Agent O'Dell's help, as well as that of a forensic anthropologist, Dr Adam Bonzatto, in hopes of identifying the victims and ultimately the faceless killer.
Maggie arrives in Connecticut and begins to profile the killer, and a pattern emerges. The victims range widely in age and include both men and women, but they have one thing in common: they have all suffered from an illness or physical deformity of some sort. And the part of their body that was afflicted is missing. As bizarre as it seems, the killer appears to have a fascination, an obsession with his victim's imperfections.
With only an old man who suffers from Alzheimer's as a witness to the killer's identity, Maggie realises time is running out. Because another woman has gone missing, and the old man's illness may have made him the next target. Determined to put an end to the killing, Maggie has to dig deeper than ever before to catch this killer of unparalleled madness.