Ziele is almost immediately contacted by Alistair Sinclair, a criminologist of note working at Columbia University. He claims the identity of the killer is Michael Fromley, one of his patients; and he makes this deduction based on the verbalizations of Fromley in their sessions. His descriptions of the crimes he would like to commit bear an eerie similarity to the circumstances surrounding Sarah's death.

Behavioral science was a new concept at the turn of the 20th century as the scientist faced the fear of the public and the police that somehow understanding the motivation of a crime would eventually result in the urge to excuse it. On the other hand, the scientist would argue that it was only in understanding the motivations from the mind of the criminal could one begin to understand the patterns and behavior necessary to identify the perpetrator of a crime. The passage of time has judged the latter view as the more sound, as it was the interviews with notorious killers that became the foundation for the FBI Behavioral Science Unit.

Ziele assimilates the theories of Sinclair in his pursuit of the criminal.  The author postures the killer as Fromley, a copycat killer, or someone who inadvertently has mimicked the same style. The author uses the tool of foreshadowing almost to excess in keeping these options alive for the reader.

In the course of the investigation Ziele exposes the burgeoning science of forensics that is coming alive in this period. Although set in a small town, there is little sense of that place because much of the action occurs in New York City.

From an historical point of view the novel is rich with descriptions of the early use of forensics and what we know today as profiling; it is also very well written. And it is perhaps for these reasons that this novel is a winner of the Minotaur Books/ MWA First Crime Novel Award.

However, if you prefer to engage emotionally with the characters, you may be disappointed. The character development is weak with flat, almost single dimensional, individuals. The principal character Simon Ziele is aloof, analytical, detail oriented, and portrayed as having a mysterious dark past; thus his narrative, remaining true to character, emerges as unemotional, unexciting and often didactic. This is unfortunate since the story is told through his perspective.

It is this unevenness that generates the rating of three stars.

--Thea Davis