Summoned to an unnerving abandoned theme park to retrieve a body Dr Kay Scarpetta is
devastated to learn that the victim is a man she once loved. While teaching in Rome during the
early days of her career Scarpetta had a love affair with acclaimed astrophysicist Sal
Giordano that led to a lifelong friendship. The murder scene is bizarre with a crop circle of
petals around the body and Giordano's skin is strangely red. Scarpetta's niece Lucy believes
he was dropped from an unidentified flying craft. Scarpetta knows an autopsy can reveal the
dead's secrets but she is shocked to find her friend seems to have deliberately left her a
clue. As the investigators are torn between suspicions of otherworldly forces and of Giordano
himself Scarpetta detects an explanation closer to home that in her mind is far more evil .
. .
