Lawyer Martin Vail has never lost a case - now he must catch a psychotic killer, or he"II lose his life

When Linda Balfour, a young mother, is found butchered in small-town southern Illinois, a coded inscription stamped in blood on the back of her head brands her mutilated body.

For Chief Prosecutor Martin Vail, the bloody insignia drags up memories he"d like to forget - memories of Bishop Rushman, slashed and dismembered ten years ago by an altar boy. Aaron Stampler.