There is a serial killer on the loose in New Orleans. Someone is branding, stabbing, and strangling young girls. Their mutilated bodies are being found in the depths of the Mississippi River. Beleaguered detective Lewis Kline and his colleagues believe the occult may be involved, but they have no leads. And the killer shows no sign of slowing down. Then Sela, a troubled young woman, finds a stranger's cell phone in a dark Bourbon Street bar. When it rings, she answers it. On the other end is Chloe Applegate. The serial killer's most recent victim. So begins Sela's journey into a nightmare from which she cannot awaken, a descent into madness out of which she cannot climb, as she finds herself the target of an almost incomprehensible evil.