When police detective Carson Ryder wins a free vacation to the isolated Appalchian mountains, he welcomes the chance to take a well-deserved rest. But all too soon an anonymous phone-call summons him to the scene of grisly torture. This is just the first of a series of increasingly savage murders and Ryder finds himself helping overstretched local detective Donna Cherry and forest ranger Lee McCoy sift through the bizarre clues. And adding to the confusion his disturbed brother Jeremy has settled in the area. Meanwhile back home in Alabama, the ill-advised hypnotic regression of ex-professional fighter Bobby Lee Crayline has led to his escape. With several malevolent killers on the loose, it is Ryder's death-defying challenge to unearth horrors others wished buried years ago.