Missouri detective Claire Morgan is eager to get back to work after recuperating from injuries sustained on her last job. But the missing persons case that welcomes her home in the dead of winter soon turns more twisted and treacherous than Lake of the Ozarks' icy mountain roads...The woman's body is found suspended from a tree overlooking a local school. She is bleeding from the head, still alive - but not for long. Someone wanted Professor Simone Classon to suffer as much as possible before she died, making sure the victim had a perfect view of her colleagues and students on the campus below as she succumbed to the slow-working poison in her veins...Frigid temperatures and punishing snows only make the investigation more difficult. And then the death threats begin - unnerving incidents orchestrated to send Claire a deadly message. Now, as she edges closer to the truth, Claire risks becoming entangled in a maniac's web - and the stuff of her own worst nightmares...