Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck. Nine years since eight helpless young women were hideously slaughtered by an ice-pick wielding maniac. Now hard-drinking ex-cop and unlicensed investigator Matt Scudder has been hired to bring the murderer to justice at last. Relentlessly, Scudder follows an aging trail of blood towards a psychopath either long gone, long dead or very patiently awaiting the chance to kill again.