Could a ghost from his past take everything away from Alex Cross? Mere hours after witnessing the execution of a killer he helped put behind bars, Alex Cross is called to the scene of a copycat murder. A note signed ''M'' rests on the corpse: ''You messed up big time, Dr. Cross.'' Was an innocent man just put to death? As the executed convict''s family launch a vicious campaign against Cross, his abilities as a detective are called into question. The enigmatic ''M'' lures Cross out of Washington, DC to the sites of multiple homicides, all marked with distressingly familiar details that conjure up decades-old cases and Cross family secrets. Details that make it clear M is after a prize so dear that - were the killer to attain it - Cross''s life would be destroyed.