1979. As the turbulent decade wound down Disco was still ruling the airwaves, but more complex music was rushing towards the scene. Boiling anti-American sentiments were fermenting in the Middle East, culminating in the hostage-taking of American embassy personnel and others in Tehran after the Shah fled to Egypt. The United States established full diplomatic relations with China. Using the "Twinkie" defense Dan White is only convicted of manslaughter in the murders of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. Michael Jackson broke through as a single artist with his album Off the Wall. Worldwide per capita oil production reached an historic peak. The Soviet Union launched its invasion of Afghanistan. With all the turmoil in the world people were still excited about reaching a new decade with all the promise underlying the negativity bubbling at the end of the 1970s. Big hair and shoulder pads were on the horizon. In the small city of Keene in southern New Hampshire strange murders have begun, starting with the decapitations of hitchhikers by a man who pays an ironic price. They continue in different manners with different victims, slowly revealing a dark pattern that intensifies the elusiveness of the perpetrator. People from different walks of life band together to uncover the truth and bring the killer to justice: a crime novelist; a young police detective and his associates; a diligent, determined reporter; and a reclusive Asian man with a mysterious past who isn't all he seems and might be something no one would suspect. As they pursue sharing investigations, theories, and clues, the twisted killer is stalking the city with a focused ruthlessness that is stacking up bodies and keeping his pursuers at bay. The climax of the hunt rushes towards an unexpected and heart-pounding conclusion in the wild White Mountains of New Hampshire. But that climax is far from the end of the story, a twist no one would have imagined, or prepared for ...