Eric Logan had just turned 16 and was looking forward to an exciting summer. Sitting in his secret spot near Lake Tranquility in the town of Eagle, Wyoming, Eric was making plans of adventure. Until an older boy spoke to Eric. He was tall, and had dirty hair hanging to his shoulders, yellow teeth and knew Eric’s nickname, Runner. He said his name was DeSade and Eric and nine other boys were going to be members of his gang, the Under My Thumb gang. Then DeSade showed Eric pictures, terrible pictures of his family. He knew then he would join the gang and do whatever DeSade ordered. But the scariest thing was, DeSade was tossing between his hands a human thumb, and Eric Logan knew all his plans for the summer had vanished.

Twenty years later, Logan is a Detective with the Eagle Police Department. He is called out to an unusual homicide. Big Joe, the town drunk, had been found with his throat slit and the thumb on his left hand cut off. Logan remembers Big Joe had been one of the gang so long ago. Once a second body is found, killed the exact same way, and also a former gang member, Logan knows the murders are connected to his old gang.

Logan knows the killer could not possibly be DeSade, but then who could it be? Revealing anything about the old gang might lose Logan his job, or worse, put him in prison. Logan walks a fine line between trying to catch the killer, warning the other members of the gang and revealing the truth. The body count climbs and Logan is stuck between a rock and a hard place.