When her college student son dies, the twelfth victim in what seems to be a series of suicides, Sarah Spooner becomes determined to root out the shadowy secrets that hide the truth behind the student deaths.

The tabloids called him the Velvet Viper. He abducted children, four young girls. None of them could remember exactly what had happened...all they recalled was a strange dream of black velvet walls, fragrant flowers. and soft, tinkling music. It wasn't much of a lead for D.A. investigator Sarah Spooner. But it was enough to launch a maddening descent, into the workings of one man's twisted, criminal mind. And the dangers are far more personal than Sarah could have ever imagined...Because Sarah has a daughter of her own.