by James Hayman
First published 2011
Detective Michael McCabe discovers a high school athlete's mutilated corpse in a Portland scrap metal yard. Someone surgically extracted her heart with precision that suggests medical training. The same day, a young businesswoman vanishes from the city. McCabe, who left the NYPD for Maine, recognizes the signature of a serial predator who targets beautiful young women for their organs. The missing businesswoman becomes his focus as McCabe races to decode the killer's methods before another heart gets harvested. His investigation reveals a sadistic mind that combines surgical skill with methodical hunting. McCabe must penetrate the killer's psychology while the clock runs down on the abducted woman's life. The case forces this transplanted New York cop to navigate Portland's landscape while confronting a murderer whose medical expertise makes him especially dangerous.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, race-against-time
Setting: Portland, New York
Period: 21st-century
448 pages · Paperback · Penguin
Content warnings: graphic-violence, medical-trauma