A wild, demonic, and relentless ride describes Jeffery Deaver's new thrill machine, The Devil's Teardrop, to its bone-jarring core. Two men have a horrific and bloody plan. One is a robotlike assassin with no remorse, no compassion, no fear. The other is the avaricious, severely demented ringleader, the only man who can call off the other's bloody assault. But when the one falls victim to a freak fatal accident, the other continues, unabatedly, to do what he does best — kill.

The final day of the millennium may also be America's darkest when a methodical killer begins to wreak havoc inside the nation's Beltway. At 9am, 23 men, women, and children are gunned down at a D.C. Metro station. Shortly after, the mayor receives a letter claiming that this madman, known only as the Digger, will strike every four hours unless $20 million is left at a designated location. But when the brains behind this hellish scheme dies in a freak accident, no one remains who can reveal the assassin's identity, let alone call him off.

Enter Parker Kincaid, ex-FBI agent and single father of two. At the urging of local and federal law officials, Kincaid — widely regarded as the top forensic document examiner in the country — attempts to find the rampant madman before he kills again. The only evidence he has is the original letter. With time running out, with more innocent people sure to die, the end has never felt more near.