When the body of an 11-year-old boy is found in the Georgia woods, detective Ralph Anderson launches an investigation into the gruesome murder; eyewitnesses and physical evidence point to local teacher and baseball coach Terry Maitland.

Struggling to conceive, a couple in their 40s are almost out of options -- until a sliver of hope arrives in the form of their visiting step-niece.

Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with a taste for the criminal minded – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.