Complex plotting and well-rounded characters highlight Gallagher's intricate serial killer whodunit. First, two Chicago prostitutes have their throats slit by a murderer who places lit votive candles near their naked, bound, and gagged corpses. Next, two men are fatally stabbed in the lungs by an ice pick, so that they drown in their own blood. When a third man dies the same way, the inquiry falls to Tom "Tow Truck" Miller, a 30-plus year veteran of the Chicago PD. The move affords Tow a new lease on his professional life since he shot a child, who turned out to have been brandishing only a realistic-looking handgun, which caused a firestorm of negative publicity for the police. Tow's future still lies in the hands of a review board, headed by a woman with her eyes on the mayoralty.