THE CARDS NEVER LIE…Tarot reader Warren Ritter has never believed in the cards' power to foretell the future. But recently his predictions have come true with an unsettling regularity. When the first eight cards of teenage Heather Wellington's Tarot are ominous, Warren stops the reading at nine cards instead of ten. After Heather leaves, he looks at number ten-the Death card…ESPECIALLY WHEN…Warren knows the Death card isn't a guarantee of doom, but it doesn't mean there are good things ahead either. So he can't help feeling horror later that day when he sees Heather's face on the TV screen with the word "Kidnapped!" slashed across the top…DEATH IS NEAR…Now Warren finds himself pulled into the mystery of Heather's kidnapping—and then a bizarre murder heightens his fear for her life. Suddenly the cops, a beautiful lady, and a killer are all complicating Warren's life. But the cards have a final message for Warren: Only he can untangle the mystery of a young woman's disappearance before it's too late..."David Skibbins's award-winning debut delivers atmosphere, suspense, and humanity at a breakneck pace...a true American original."—Julia Spencer-Fleming, Agatha and Anthony Award winning author of In the Bleak Midwinter