After being acquitted of eight grisly murders by reason of insanity, Hanford Wells was committed to a psychiatric hospital from which he soon escaped. When dental records proved that the battered body discovered in the woods was that of his missing patient, psychiatrist Llewellyn Price breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, a year later a girl’s skeleton is discovered near Wells’ home town and carved into her skull are a line of symbols strikingly similar to those Wells doodled before his escape.

Dr. Price has been asked to help the authorities profile the killer, a job he accepts amidst growing fears that Hanford Wells may not be dead after all, and if he’s not Price knows that this girl was not the madman’s first victim and that she certainly will not be his last.