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Recently transferred from homicide to sex crimes, Chicago police detective Sloane Pearson pursues a serial rapist in Edgar-winner Schwegel's gritty fourth crime novel. Called in to interview the second in a series of victims who were beaten, raped and nearly strangled to death, Pearson knows the only way she'll have a case is if the traumatized woman will talk. But without a crime scene or detailed description of the attacker, Pearson's leads dry up fast. As she retraces the victims' steps, she uncovers a common thread that winds from the dilapidated blocks where the rapes occurred to one of the city's glitzy property development companies. Introduced in 2006's Probable Cause , Pearson, the odd woman out in her new squad, shoulders the burden of a troublesome case even when her boss insists she quit. Despite a minimal body count, Schwegel ratchets up the tension, leaving readers breathless through to the last page. Author tour. (July)