In his celebrated thirtieth novel, James Lee Burke returns to the Texas border town setting of his bestseller Rain Gods, “a riveting novel [that evokes] past American greats, such as Steinbeck and Cain” (Lincoln Journal Star). Now, a monstrous killer presumed dead is very much alive . . . and Sheriff Hackberry Holland must fight for survival—his own, and that of the citizens he’s sworn to protect.

Still mourning the loss of his cherished wife and navigating an almost-romance with his decades-younger deputy, Pam Tibbs, Hackberry feeds off the deeds of evil men to keep his own demons at bay. When alcoholic ex-boxer Danny Boy Lorca witnesses a man tortured to death in the desert, Hack’s investigation leads him to Anton Ling, a regal, mysterious Chinese woman known for sheltering illegals. Ling denies having seen the victim or the perpetrators, but there is something in her steely demeanor and aristocratic beauty that seduces Hackberry into overlooking that she is just as dangerous as the men she harbors. Danger increases tenfold with the return of serial murderer Preacher Jack Collins, who has reemerged with a calm, single-minded zeal for killing more terrifying than the muzzle flash of his signature machine gun. But this time, he and Sheriff Holland may have a common enemy.