Amos Decker and his journalist friend Alex Jamison are visiting the home of Alex's sister in Barronville, a small town in western Pennsylvania that has been hit hard economically. When Decker is out on the rear deck of the house talking with Alex's niece, a precocious eight-year-old, he notices flickering lights and then a spark of flame in the window of the house across the way. When he goes to investigate he finds two dead bodies inside and it's...

Amos Decker--the FBI consultant with a perfect memory--and Alex Jamison return to solve a gruesome murder of a young woman named Irene Cramer in a booming North Dakota oil fracking town. The promise of a second gold rush has attracted an onslaught of newcomers all hoping for a windfall--bringing with them problems--including drugs, property crimes, prostitution and now a gruesome murder.