1969: The hippie scene is vibrant in Provincetown, Massachusetts... and Tony Costa is at the center of it all. To a certain group of smitten young women, he is known as Sire - the leader of their counter-culture movement. But beneath his benign persona lies a twisted and uncontrollable rage that threatens to break loose at any moment. When young women begin to disappear, Costa's natural charisma and good looks initially protect him from suspicion. But as the bodies are discovered, the police close in on him as the key suspect. Meanwhile, local writers Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer both set their sights on Tony Costa and the drug-soaked hippie culture that he embodies as their next promising subject. Immersive, unflinching, and shocking, this book reveals the secrets of a notorious serial killer, and unspools the threads connecting Costa, Vonnegut, and Mailer in the seaside city that played host to horrors unlike any ever seen before.