For Detective Peter Strauss and his colleagues, the disappearance of a man from a crowd in the Adelaide Hills town of Hahndorf is one of several ongoing investigations. But they soon learn the man is not who he appears to be and when a body is later found some distance away, he becomes a major focus.

As they investigate, the case balloons out to encompass other crimes old and recent, close and far away and the detectives struggle to link what they are learning.

Suddenly the killer strikes again and then again, moving like a shadow in the dark – ruthless, savage and playing no favorites.