The novel takes place in a mysterious crime atmosphere; thirteen years after the disappearance of "Marie Gesto" in mysterious circumstances, in which the hypothesis of death was considered likely, the investigator Harry Bosch continued to search for the supposed perpetrator to know the fate of the girl or at least to recover her remains.
One day, he receives a call from the prosecutor's office, this call turns things upside down, as the killer appears after the dismembered remains of two women are found in his car, and after the prosecution requested the death penalty for him, his lawyer offered to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment in exchange for informing the police of eleven crimes, including the murder of Marie Gesto.
At this juncture, the first moral dilemma in the novel begins; The penalty for killing two women is death.