When a rapist who was convicted on Tony's evidence is released Tony appears to be discredited. To make matters worse Carol has left for South Africa without even saying goodbye to him. He offers his help to her successor, Alex, another female officer, when a number of young women are found dead, their bodies buried in fields. Tony relates this to a sado-masochistic Internet site used by the murderer to lure his victims to their fate by playing, and then preying, on their sexual fantasies.

Tony Hill assists the police in their investigation of a bizarre series of murders. In each case the victims - a property developer, a bishop, a judge - were brutally killed and the killers then immediately committed suicide. Tony thinks there is a connection to the Freemasons, but then realizes that they are dealing with a religious sect that glorifies suicide. He knows from the profile that the head of the sect will be a white male and from the religious symbolism that he will have six disciples, but who are they and how will they find this needle in a haystack?

When a young woman is raped and murdered after being kidnapped from a nightclub, Tony Hill is convinced that Jason Eglee is responsible. Ten years previously Tony had got him to confess to the rape of Tracy Bradshaw in what was Tony's first case working for the police. Eglee was released on parole, against Tony's advice, only three weeks before the most recent crime. When a crusading journalist questions Tony's interrogation technique and pushes for Eglee's original conviction to be overturned, DNA testing proves the man is innocent. The evidence notwithstanding, Tony...