During/the early hours of Christmas/morning, chief medical examiner/Dr./Kay/Scarpetta receives/a chilling call. The Phantom Slasher/has struck again. The/serial killer has/terrorized/Northern Virginia for months. His pattern is/to stalk with a sophisticated technology that enables him to invade his victims' homes and watch their every move./They wake up to/a ghost-like hologram before being murdered/ in their beds. Scarpetta/is summoned to/Mercy Island, the site of/a notorious/psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from/Scarpetta's/past. It soon becomes apparent that she/ could be next...