Just before daybreak, a body washes up on a pristine beach. The dead man's skull has been bashed open, and his upper body is covered in neo-Nazi tattoos. An anonymous photographer e-mails an image of the scene to the local news, spurring the police to instantaneous response. Searching for suspects at one of the town's "homeless-by-choice" encampments, the cops pick up Homer, a "walking wounded" schizophrenic, who has been showing off a wristwatch he says God gave him. The watch is engraved with a symbol that exactly matches one of the dead man's tattoos. Even though Homer could never have inflicted such damage on a man twice his weight and half his age, he is immediately arrested--tourism could suffer if a killer was known to be at large. Dolly's friend Mack, the director and sole employee of the area's mental-health outreach program, is outraged but helpless. Dolly is outraged, too, but with connections like Dell, she is anything but helpless. As the search for the real killer pulls them deeper into the world of hate-groups, Dell must share some of his "Dark Arts" knowledge with Mack. Together they make a shocking discovery just beneath the surface of this seemingly sublime little town. The second installment in Andrew Vachss's riveting new series is sure to appeal to the fans who loved his Burke novels and to mystery/thriller readers who haven't yet discovered this established master.

Subtitle from cover.