Author Kevin Richardson has written a fictional best selling book based on a case study given to him by his wife Catherine while she attended the University of Virginia as a graduate student. Her esteemed professor, Kem Hunter, examined the psychiatric history of an eleven-year-old boy, James Martin, who was found outside his burning house after his mother and baby brother had been murdered. The authorities were uncertain if James was a fortuitous victim who had escaped, or a suspect. 

 

With no living relatives and the inability to speak, James was placed in DeJarnette in Staunton Virginia, an institution that held a dark past. James never spoke a word the whole time he was at DeJarnette and escaped at the age of seventeen, his whereabouts unknown.

 

Once Kevin’s book was published,  murders emerged in Fairfax County, VA, near the home of Kevin and Catherine Richardson.  Detective McAllister regarded the cases as a possible serial killer and became more convinced after investigating a total of twenty-two murders in the State of Virginia and neighboring West Virginia.

 

Detective McAllister consulted Catherine’s professor, Dr. Kem Hunter, and together they set out to determine if this was indeed the original James Martin who was responsible for these murders, a copycat, or perhaps a greedy author profiting from the notoriety of the murders.