After the slaying of his wife, New York private investigator John March made an uneasy peace with grief and guilt. But his truce came at a price: a life of solitude and rigid self-discipline. Working his cases with a ruthless, dispassionate zeal, running mile after mile through the city streets, and avoiding relationships like the plague, March isolated himself emotionally, even as he insulated himself from the traumas of his past. It was a hard bargain, but one he was willing to make-until he met Jane Lu.
Brilliant and beautiful, Jane offered March a chance at a larger life. But with that hope came a terrible reminder of how fragile happiness can be. Jane was swept up, and nearly swept away, in the violent currents of one of March's jobs. Now, trapped between the lonely familiarity of his Spartan existence, a flood of dangerous memories, and the promise - and demands - of a relationship with Jane, the last thing March needs is a case that spills over into his personal life.
But that's exactly what he gets when he goes to work for Nina Sachs. Her ex-husband, wealthy equity analyst Gregory Danes, has dropped out of sight, and what seems a cut and dried missing persons case becomes something much more
deadly. March unearths a rat's nest of family strife, business betrayals, and conspiracies, and finds that Danes left a long line of enemies in his troubled wake. And, March discovers, he's not alone in his hunt for the missing man. Someone else is searching for Danes - someone who doesn't want March getting too close, and who will put March, and all he holds dear, in the cross-hairs once again.