On a cold, miserable night in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a night that wouldn't feel so unusual if it wasn't the Fourth of July, an antique wooden boat runs full-speed into a line of old railroad pilings in the shallow waters of Waishkey Bay. When Alex McKnight helps rescue the passengers, he finds three men. The driver is out cold, the other two are dazed but conscious. When they're all finally back on dry land and sent away in an ambulance, Alex figures he'll never see them again.

He couldn't be more wrong.

It's not enough that Natalie Reynaud, the woman who has become the center of his life, is five hundred miles away, working a dangerous undercover operation in Toronto. Now Alex has even more problems when the men from the boat get tangled up with his best friend, Vinnie. It's all Alex can do to keep Vinnie from killing them or being killed by them.

With Vinnie in danger on one side of the border, and Natalie in just as much danger on the other, what comes next will be the absolute darkest hour of Alex's life, beyond anything he's ever faced before.

Steve Hamilton was born in Detroit and attended the University of Michigan, where he was awarded the prestigious Avery Hopwood Prize for writing. His first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, won the St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest before going on to win both the Edgar and Shamus Awards for Best First Novel. In 2006, Steve won the Michigan Author Award for his outstanding body of work. He lives in Cottekill, New York, with his wife, Julia, and their two children. Visit his Web site at www.authorstevehamilton.com.