Chapter 1 Summary

Blind Alley opens in Calhoun, Georgia at a garish crime scene. Det. Christy Lollack greets Joe Quinn who has been called to the crime scene for counsel.

A woman's body has been discovered without a face. All the flesh has been removed from the skull, yet the remainder of the body is only mildly decomposed. It appears that the killer didn't want the woman to be readily identified, noting that they will still be able to run DNA, but that they would be able to get a fingerprint match relatively quickly. Christy explains that the fingertips had been burned in order to obscure the identity.

Mark Trevor, an inspector from Scotland Yard, had contacted Christy after reading about a similar case in Birmingham; he also sent emails to most cities in the Southeast that the perpetrator of a series of grizzly crimes may...