Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan''s top sex crimes prosecutor, is brought into what promises to be a messy case. Gemma Dogen was found in her own office in a New York hospital sexually assaulted, soaked in her own blood and considered likely to die before she can be moved to the emergency room.

Alex combs through her files for murders with similar modus operandi, while Mike Chapman and the other detectives concentrate on possible motives amongst her friends and colleagues - many of whom had found Gemma a professional thorn in their sides.

Two facts rapidly become apparent: the hospital itself is far from secure; and someone believes that Alex has discovered something far too damaging for them to let her live...