When the body of twenty-nine-year-old social worker Gloria Montoya, seven weeks pregnant with her first child, shows up on New York City chief medical examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, she's baffled to find no apparent cause of death.

With no clues to go on, Laurie enlists the help of Dr. Tricia Albanese, a forensic pathology resident with a background in genetic science, to help her trace the identity of the unborn baby's father using DNA from the mother and child.

But when Tricia is found dead in her apartment in a manner strikingly similar to Gloria's death, Laurie realizes she might have two linked homicides on her hands . . . and now it's up to her - with the help of her husband, forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton - to continue the tracking work Tricia had begun before a killer can strike again.

PRAISE FOR ROBIN COOK

'Gripping . . . terrifying' New York Times 'Forensic pathologists and doctors-turned-detectives do battle against epidemics, lethal illness and drug-related deaths, the causes of which are far from natural . . . You'll find yourself completely hooked' Daily Mail