Life is good in the Becket household. Sam is planning a surprise for Grace's birthday, Cathy's back from California and Grace is seeing patients again. And then the killings begin. A newly-wed couple is found horribly slain in Miami Beach. As Detective Sam Becket's investigation gets into stride, a second couple is abducted. Soon, couples all over Miami-Dade are fearing for their lives, and Sam and the squad are battling an unseen enemy, against whom...

The small red box wrapped in white ribbon seems innocent enough, but it protects a bloody secret - a human heart. When this gruesome package is discovered in a dinghy tied to the dock next to the house Detective Sam Becket shares with his wife, Grace, and their young son, he realizes that it can only mean one thing - Cal the Hater, the psychotic killer who has haunted his family for years, has returned . . .

Detective Sam Becket pursues the serial killer Black Hole, so named for the way he removes the eyes of his victims, while Sam's wife is followed back home from a conference in Europe by a stalker.