When a young prostitute is found dead, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill sees an immediate parallel with the crimes committed by an incarcerated serial killer, Derek Tyler. There can be no doubt that Tyler is innocent of the most recent crime but the similarities - the women were all blond, young, bound to the bed and cut until they bled to death - cannot be ignored. Tyler was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic but Tony soon realizes that he wasn't hearing voices telling him to commit the murders but rather was taking instructions from someone. The case becomes ..

When a young woman is raped and murdered after being kidnapped from a nightclub, Tony Hill is convinced that Jason Eglee is responsible. Ten years previously Tony had got him to confess to the rape of Tracy Bradshaw in what was Tony's first case working for the police. Eglee was released on parole, against Tony's advice, only three weeks before the most recent crime. When a crusading journalist questions Tony's interrogation technique and pushes for Eglee's original conviction to be overturned, DNA testing proves the man is innocent. The evidence notwithstanding, Tony...

Tony Hill assists the police in their investigation of a bizarre series of murders. In each case the victims - a property developer, a bishop, a judge - were brutally killed and the killers then immediately committed suicide. Tony thinks there is a connection to the Freemasons, but then realizes that they are dealing with a religious sect that glorifies suicide. He knows from the profile that the head of the sect will be a white male and from the religious symbolism that he will have six disciples, but who are they and how will they find this needle in a haystack?

When a rapist who was convicted on Tony's evidence is released Tony appears to be discredited. To make matters worse Carol has left for South Africa without even saying goodbye to him. He offers his help to her successor, Alex, another female officer, when a number of young women are found dead, their bodies buried in fields. Tony relates this to a sado-masochistic Internet site used by the murderer to lure his victims to their fate by playing, and then preying, on their sexual fantasies.