"Before you roll those dice. Baby think twice." Song lyrics

Det. Archie Sheridan is still recovering from his last encounter with serial killer Gretchen Lowell. He sleeps with his light on, takes Ambien to help sleep through the night and keeps a loaded gun in his desk.

As the story begins, Archie is at Mount Tabor Park in Portland. He and his men are examining the body of Jack Kelly who was murdered, tied by his wrists to a tree and appeared to have been skinned from the neck down.

 His men are concerned about Archie and he admits that he is still weak.

He was almost killed by Gretchen who is now at Oregon State Mental Hospital. Then, Archie gets a call relayed from Gretchen's doctor. She asks for Archie's help because someone is after her child.

When Archie refuses to believe Gretchen's message, his friend, reporter Susan Ward goes to the hospital and Gretchen gives her a detailed interview on tape where she admits to a murder in her past. He return, Gretchen asks Susan to tell Archie that she needs to see him.

Another body is found, suspense mounts. This time it is a woman who has been burned. While Archie and his unit investigate these murders, there is something in Gretchen's message about having an associate in her killings and mentions a name. Then she admits that the associate went renegade.

The author writes an interesting story. The plot is a cat and mouse game in finding the killer before they can reach their intended victim. The characters are correctly portrayed and the author gives her reader information about Gretchen's past which helps us to understand her.

Chelsea Cain is a superb entertainer. I thought that the conclusion was somewhat predictable but overall the story was clever and engrossing.