With an FBI Agent left for dead at the hands of serial killer Brad Holden, Inspector John Broden is on a mission to bring down the man responsible. There is a glitch in his plan, however, because he has officially been taken of the case and the FBI has taken over. Broden and Trooper Michaels launch their own investigation, albeit unofficial, when they feel the FBI is completely off base with theirs. It seems that everyone is chasing ghosts and grasping at straws, but John knows his theory is right. The federal investigators have followed a trail leading far from Branch County, and the home of Kelly Jo Carter, and John Broden knows with every fiber of his being that they are wrong. He has his own thoughts about Brad Holden and a deeper insight into the madman than any of the agents handling the official case. There is no way, in John's opinion, that Holden would ever go so far from the woman he blames for so many wrongs, one of those being the death of his own child. Inspector Broden's theories may prove to be more accurate than he thought, and if so, even he will be left scrambling to make up for lost ground.