Malevolence in the Midwest is at the heart of this crime tale. While religion is ever-present throughout, it is the misappropriation of faith and using it for obscenely evil purposes that take readers through a winding trail of deception, depravity, mayhem, and murder.

Linda is a Nebraska policewoman assigned to a particularly heinous crime. The remains of a man and two young children have been found buried in a garden. Eventually, the bodies are identified as a former preacher and his kids, who, along with the wife and mother, were thought to have left for missionary work in Africa. Where then is the missing member of the family? Simultaneously, a story unwinds involving a televangelist in Missouri with a hamstring operation growing more financially precarious by the day. Soon a mysterious woman arrives who captivates the minister, annoys the employees, and begins to turn a struggling operating into an economic juggernaut. But to what end?

The author is a skilled storyteller who juggles both plotlines dexterously as she bobs and weaves her way to an intersection of narratives. Once the cat is out of the bag, Schleich begins to unfold an intricate police procedural that credibly chronicles a dedicated manhunt even as the ruthless suspect continues a wave of immoral evildoing. In the process, additional lives are lost, and readers get to know one of the most wickedly interesting Medusas that has come along for some time. This is a story that keeps one turning pages to tale’s end, less to know who, and more to know what will become of the hunter and the hunted.

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