It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Part of forensic psychiatrist Natalie Vine's job is to assess the risk of danger to the public from convicted criminals applying for release. In her opinion, rapist Colin Heggarty is a scheming, lying, unrepentant recidivist. With his weekend leave disallowed, Heggarty wants revenge and he plots it in the most harrowing and malicious style.

Vine gets caught up in Heggarty's sick games while at the same time trying to salvage the wrecked life of her colleague, Vicky Jarret, who has plummeted from pop-psych breakfast TV darling to murder suspect in one bloody move.

But is she a murderer or the victim of an insanely jealous stalker? In a world where real monsters lurk in prison cells and in the faceless world of the Web, Vine has to pick her way through a maze of depravity and uncooperative authority to find the answers to some deadly questions. At stake are a girl's life...not to mention Vine's own sanity.