2Amid the sweltering heat of southern California, a serial killer with a passion for sharp knives and naked flesh attacks their way across the affluent coastal neighborhoods of San Diego County. A banking executive is found slain in his beachfront hotel room. Then the nude body of a beautiful young woman from a prominent family is found slashed and brutalized in a public park. Former NYPD Detective Micheline Avila is still reeling from a failed marriage and the recent death of her mother. As a detective with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Micheline is absorbed in the investigations of the first two murder cases. In a heartbeat, the world as Micheline knows it is flipped upside down. She's suddenly on the wrong side of the law, accused of committing a horrific crime based upon iron-clad, indisputable evidence. Against seemingly impossible odds, Micheline must prove her innocence or face the consequences of an open-and-shut jury trial. She's destined to spend the rest of her life behind bars or worse. How will she ever survive?