Police officer Mike Ryan was murdered with his own gun. A beautiful suspect walked away free after tainting his reputation with allegations of greed and corruption -- only to perish herself in a fiery apparent suicide. For two years Cleveland Homicide Detective John Salvatore Paris has been struggling to clear his friend Ryan's once-good name with no success. And now a rash of brutal slayings is rocking Paris's city, a plague of terror and ritual sacrifice savage enough to shatter even the most street-hardened cop's faith in justice and a rational world. Each murder is different yet equally horrific -- each victim and crime connected only by a strange symbol carved into their flesh.

And by one name: Michael Ryan.