See all titles by Earl Emerson

A curious couple offers Seattle private eye Thomas Black a strange proposal: play guardian angel to an unlikely stalking victim named Billy Battle, a brooding ex-con with a psychotic history of unproven murder and mayhem. Hot on Billy's trail is the man who helped send him up the river, and who just may want Billy dead for his own peace of mind.

It's a case that puts Black in the hospital partially paralyzed, plagued with memory loss and a monstrous sense of doom. And when menacing phone calls from a maniacally laughing stranger begin to haunt Black, he can't help but wonder if the last, wicked laugh will be on him.