Early one morning, Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware find a naked young man lying dead in the street, the apparent victim of a car collision. But then a blood trail leads to a nearby home, where a young woman lies butchered inside: Cordelia Gannett, a self-styled internet influencer who'd gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist, and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues. Upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that Cordelia's own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.'s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.