It's never an easy task matching a dead body to the scores of missing persons reports. Especially when no one seems to be looking for the victim.

New Years Day is a time for new beginnings, but Minneapolis homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are focused on endings: specifically, the tragic end of their latest murder victim, an unidentified young woman. Kovac and Liska are determined to do the girl the small justice of returning her body to her family as they investigate her case, but it is no simple task matching the broken corpse to any of the scores of missing persons reports, especially when no one seems to be looking for her.

Meanwhile, recent widow Jeannie Reiser is frantic when she is unable to get in touch with her daughter. And her desperate attempts to get the police to believe her child is in trouble lead her closer and closer to the New Year's Doe, and to an evil even Kovac and Liska may be unable to stop.

The story continues in Tami Hoag's THE 9TH GIRL.