April 1950: The rusting hulk of a steam locomotive rises from the deep waters of
a Montana lake. Inside is all that remains of three men who died forty-four
years before. But it is not the engine or its grisly contents that interest the
people watching nearby. It is what is about to come next . . .
1906: For two
years, the western states of America have been suffering an extraordinary crime
spree: a string of bank robberies by a single man who cold-bloodedly murders any
and all witnesses and then vanishes without a trace. Fed up by the depredations
of the "Butcher Bandit," the U.S. government brings in the best man they can
find-a tall, lean, no-nonsense detective named Isaac Bell, who has caught
thieves and killers coast to coast.
But Bell has
never had a challenge like this one. From Arizona to Colorado to the streets of
San Francisco during its calamitous earthquake and fire, he pursues what is
quickly becoming clear to him is the sharpest criminal mind he has ever
encountered, and the woman who seems to hold the key to the bandit's identity.
Using science, deduction, and intuition, Bell repeatedly draws near only to
grasp at thin air, but at least he knows his pursuit is having an effect.
Because his quarry is getting angry now, and has turned the chase back on him.
The hunter has become the hunted. And soon it will take all of Isaac Bell's
skills not merely to prevail . . . but to survive.
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