It's sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she's anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her. An identified corpse...

Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan investigates religious-cult murders in a monkey preserve in North Carolina. She learns of a planned massacre in Quebec, where the novel's climax comes during a snow storm.