Nick Petrov was a world-famous private investigator - until a brain trauma destroyed part of his memory and changed who he is forever. Now a killer is on the loose, looming up from a past that Nick can no longer remember.

He returns recklessly to the dangerous case he was working on. Nick accepts the small case of missing teenager Amanda Rummel because something touches him in the demeanor of Amanda's distraught mother, Liza. But from the beginning of his investigation, he finds that Liza, who works for Candyland Escorts, is less than candid with him.

Nick realizes that the fastest way - and maybe the only way - to get his memory back is to retrace the steps of his aborted investigation. Abraham draws extra tension from dicey scenes that put the reader two steps ahead of the oblivious Nick. There's also an offbeat romance with his African-American nurse, Billie, as Nick's splintered probe runs through a large cast of unpredictable characters, including a chain-smoking madam, a volatile P.I., and a skittish volleyball coach. Abrahams creates palpable empathy for the bruised Nick, and his pitch-perfect prose is a joy.