#1New York Timesbestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, unputdownable thriller featuring iconic forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

OF ALL THE CREATURES IN THE WORLD, ONLY HUMANS HAVE THE CAPACITY FOR EVIL

Small animals a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Ruthie, shes diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human?

Tempe visits the scene and discovers that the victim is a dog. Someones pet. As someone who has always found animal cruelty deeply abhorrent, she vows to help apprehend the person responsible for the killings. With her layered knowledge of animal behaviour, Ruthie becomes a valuable ally in the hunt for answers, as does semi-retired homicide detective Erskine Skinny Slidell, who is equally outraged and committed.

Needing a better understanding of possible motives, Tempe and Skinny seek input from a forensic psychologist, who has no definitive answer but offers several possibilities. The escalating pattern of aggression suggests even more macabre discoveries and that the perps focus may soon shift to humans.

And then it happens. A woman is found disfigured and posed in a manner that mimics the earlier killings. As Tempe and Slidell follow the horrifying clues to a shocking conclusion, they find themselves force to confront an increasingly terrifying question.

What is pure evil?