Dr. Bill Brockton-founder of the University of Tennessee's macabre Body Farm-has enjoyed professional acclaim and personal contentment in the years since he once came close to losing his wife and son at the hands of a serial killer. The pioneering research done at the Body Farm, and Brockton's forensic expertise, have earned him respect, renown, and high-profile cases. Now the FBI has asked Brockton to help identify the remains of a pilot killed in a suspicious, fiery plane crash. Are the charred bones indeed those of maverick humanitarian Richard Janus And was the nighttime crash an accident, a suicide-or a murder But a storm is about to hit Brockton with cataclysmic force. First, he discovers he's landed in the middle of a nasty political battle. Then his identification of the crash victim is called into question, as is the future of his research facility. Reeling from these blows, he receives a gruesome threat from the killer who nearly murdered the Brocktons more than a decade before. But Brockton gets the most shocking news of all from his beloved Kathleen. Will the legendary Dr. Bill Brockton be pushed beyond his breaking point