Kay Scarpetta has been training at the Dover Port Mortuary, mastering the art of "virtual autopsy" – a revolutionary new procedure. And it is not too long before these new skills urgently need to be put into practice. A young man drops dead, apparently from a heart condition. But when his body is examined the next morning, there are indications that he may have been alive when he was locked inside the cooler. When the revolutionary 3D radiology scans reveal more shocking details about internal injuries unlike any Scarpetta has ever seen, Scarpetta realizes that this is a case of murder – and that she is fighting a uniquely cruel enemy. Now it is a race against time to discover who and why before more people die...