THE TASK THAT FACED HOMICIDE SEEMED MONUMENTAL

They had four dead cops from four different precincts, all shot through the head. The headlines were screaming cop killer; rookies were making sudden career changes while veterans of the force were anxiously eyeing retirement dates. Panic was growing.

For Lieutenant Jack Stryker, the pressure was coming from everywhere: up from below, down from above and in from the outside. And with each new death, the pressure increased Was the killer shooting cops at random ... or was there a more sinister reason for the murders?

But when Stryker is hit and his partner almost fatally wounded, Stryker knows it's time to forget procedure and put an end to open season on Grantham's finest ... before he becomes the next trophy of a demented killer.