Unbeknownst to Esme, her life will change when a homeless man is murdered in Atlanta. He is dressed in a pink prom dress and left in the middle of MLK Blvd. The first response personnel are murdered by a sniper's bullet and, as more rescue workers respond, the murder toll grows to 14, plus a stray dog.

Subsequently, an aquarium in Amarillo is set fire and first response personnel are murdered by the same sniper, according to forensics. The death toll in that city is twenty. Shortly after this, Esme’s former boss Tom Piper calls trying to enlist her help. He reveals that the killer left a shoebox with a cryptic note in Atlanta and Amarillo which said: If there was a God, He would have stopped me. - Galileo

One person survived the massacre but is killed while in the hospital, and Tom Piper is injured. Esme realizes she can hold out no longer and agrees to fly to Texas to assist in the investigation. This is very much against her husband Rafe's wishes and she leaves her busy life, family and her recent foray into campaigning for Kellerman , the most likely presidential candidate.

It does not take Esme long to figure out where the shooter is coming from. She identifies him as an angry atheist who is trying to seek national attention for some sort of statement. While digging deeper she discovers that presidential aspirant Kellerman is a closet atheist and starts trying to connect the crimes to places where he has been or is scheduled to be.

While doing so Esme is attacked by the sniper and while trying to escape falls and impales herself on a piece of broken furniture. Her last recollection is the killer with a gun to her head, and she wakes up in the hospital.  Her husband is there and the big mystery becomes why the killer did not kill her when he had the opportunity.

Through her recovery period and against protest of her husband she puts together future campaign sites and at least persuades Tom the campaign is linked. The FBI disagrees and this convoluted plot plays out against more killings and general agency conflicts.

Esme and her family as characters are fairly well developed as well as her boss Tom. However, secondary characters are a bit more shallow, although the dialog is very natural. The plot is singular, complex and very well developed and its originality is by far the key feature of this story.

With interesting but flawed characters, and a fast moving and complicated story, this novel is a compelling read.

--Thea Davis