The hate is deep. The death is slow. The cause is silent.

You know that Atlanta PD has given up on a case when they call in Dr. Damon Keane. The sleuth scientist is quietly famous in forensic circles for unraveling the most daunting technical puzzles, but this case is bewildering. Two people are already dead. The third victim, a priest, is dying by inches in an Atlanta hospital, and the cause is a complete mystery to doctors and detectives alike.

As if matters weren't strange enough, the dying priest's rosary beads have suddenly turned the color of blood. Despite that bizarre transformation, Keane knows that he's not chasing something supernatural. The killer is a man - twisted by anger and a lust for vengeance - but still very much human. As the death toll mounts, the story races to London's Hyde Park and on to the edge of Siberia and a place once home to the world's most secret atomic city. For all of his perception and skill, Keane is always one step behind.

Time is running out. The killer is making final preparations to unleash a cloud of death over the entire city of Atlanta. By now, Damon Keane has learned that the only way to take down this villain is to outmatch his cunning in a face-to-face showdown. It's the most hectic travel weekend of the summer at the world's busiest airport....

"Smith spins an unsettling story in his stunning debut ... a flurry of unpredictable, nail biting, and clock-ticking scenarios ... should be on the Silver Screen." - San Francisco Book Review, five stars