Lured by ominous calls and photographs someone sends of her allegedly dead husband, Jillian Rivers finds herself on a slippery road deep in Montana's Bitterroot Mountains - and quickly down a steep ravine after her car spins out of control.
The accident, however, wasn't caused by the treacherous winter weather. Jillian wrecked her car after one of her tires blew out - shot by a sniper, a serial killer, hiding somewhere and hunting down his next victim.

The man who peels Jillian out of her car, Zane MacGregor, could be friend - a Good Samaritan who just happens to reside in a lonely cabin close by, or foe - the ruthless killer, who first nurtures his victims back to health and then disposes of them in the most imaginable way; tied nacked to a tree and left to die of exposure. Well, no matter what MacGregor is, his mysterious demeanor and the rugged way of a loner makes him easy on the eye, and Jillian is not oblivious to the fact that she is growing an attraction to the man that might be signing her death sentence.

The police are chasing their tail. A star, carved in the tree trunk above the victims is besides a plain note with the victims initials, the only hint.

Lisa Jackson kept me on my toes with this dramatically and vividly woven suspense, eh, make that thriller. Until the middle of the book I wasn't sure if I should love or hate MacGregor. The lead detectives, a two-men-team of girl-cops, have their own battles to fight. As a divorcée and single mother of two teenagers, Regan Pescoli, manages to enjoy a little bit of love-life while fighting with her ex. Her partner, Selena Alvarez, is trying hard to keep something very unpleasant about her past hidden beneath her all-to-perfect role as the good cop.

Clearly, Jackson fabricated a thrill-ride; one of those rare novels I will read again. Suspenseful, intriguing, thrilling, and oh so sexy.
Granted; the big boom at the end was not as big as anticipated if not slightly flat, and I understand that some readers are annoyed by not having the whodunnit-question answered.

Make no mistake - this is a thick book. Almost 500 pages in paperback. The story could easily be shortened by 15'000 words and not lose its momentum. I was able to skip a few short paragraphs when Detective Pescoli got on my nerves, but I never lost track.

However; the way Jackson held me (almost continously) by the throat made up for it's few flaws.
Therefore it deserves 4 stars.