In Boulder, two University of Colorado students, twenty-three year old Taylor Carver and nineteenth years old Linda Gibson, are battered to death in the bedroom of the condo they share. Carver's mom sues the condo owner Chris Jackson for the lack of proper security measures.

The owner's lawyer Paul Devens hires former Cambridge, Massachusetts cop turned Boulder private investigator Bill Shannon to investigate the homicides in order to uncover who and why; specifically emphasizing not to find dirt on the victims. At about the same time, a distraught mom Pauline Cousins of Portland Oregon also hires Shannon to learn if her daughter Melissa is okay since she joined the True Light cult Shannon prefers the cult case as he had an out of body experience when he killed Bill Winters back in New England after the psychopath skinned alive his partner and broke off with a nutcracker two of Bill's fingers in front of his wife.

The second Bill Shannon investigative mystery (see Bad Thoughts) is an interesting mystery as the sleuth works his two cases and struggles with his nightmares re the Winter serial killer fiasco seeing a shrink Eli to help him. Shannon's back history is macabre but fascinating as is his relationship with his ex wife Susan, as both still suffer from the Cambridge trauma; however the session with Eli and Susan also detract from the inquiries. With an interesting final DNA like twist fans will enjoy his Boulder caseload.

Harriet Klausner