A lovely young thing, wearing little more than a determined look, streaks out of the darkness and into Travis McGee's headlights. McGee hits the brakes, misses the fleeing soul by inches, and lands upside down in ten feet of water--and right into the heart of a violent mystery.

"To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen."--Kurt Vonnegut

McGee and his old friend Meyer are cruising along on their way back from a wedding when the girl darts in front of their car. They manage to emerge from the wreckage and are limping along the deserted Florida road when someone comes by in an old truck and takes a couple of shots at them. So much for Southern hospitality. McGee and Meyer head to a service station to regroup, but are there arrested and charged with murder.

It turns out a local thug has just been killed, and the lead suspects are Meyer and McGee. Someone's obviously out to get them--and in this Twilight Zone they've found themselves in, they must gather their resources to fight for their lives against a deeply corrupt system.

Features a new Introduction by Lee Child