University Professor Lola Dakota has suffered at the hands of her abusive husband for too long, and when the police get wind of his plan to hire a hitman to kill her, she agrees to take part in an undercover operation to fake her own murder. The sting seems successful and her husband is arrested. However, less than a couple of hours later and Lola is dead again . . . this time for good.
Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cooper is brought in to assist NYPD detectives Chapman and Wallace to find the killer. They are led into the academic world at Columbia University and find it to be riddled with petty jealousies, rumours of love affairs and swindled funds. Alex gradually uncovers tales about missing students, drug dealers and something referred to as the Deadhouse, which leads her to an island just off Manhattan where Lola's department was researching the remains of a Victorian penitentiary, hospitals and lunatic asylums.
