Part of Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus, book 8
First published 1996
Detective Decker stares down at the body of a beautiful teenager, victim of a savage and twisted murder. The crime pulls him into Southern California's wealthy youth culture, where privilege masks violence and rootless kids drift through lives of excess. When a disturbed young man with dead eyes confesses to the killing, the case seems closed. But Decker's instincts tell him otherwise. Something feels wrong about the confession. The detective knows this murder connects to something larger, something that reaches into higher circles than anyone wants to admit. As he digs deeper into the victim's world, Decker confronts the gap between official justice and true accountability. The real perpetrators remain free, and Decker must decide how far he will go to ensure that genuine justice, raw and absolute, finally arrives.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: detective, enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: California, Southern California
480 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Avon
Content warnings: murder, violence