As head of the Cold Case Unit, Renée Ballard uncovers, through DNA, a link between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and killer who terrorized Los Angeles two decades earlier before disappearing off the radar. Identifying the latter seems easy, but Ballard runs into a confusing web of secrets, legal obstacles, and enemies within the LAPD that force her to ask Harry Bosch for help. And this time, she'll be able to count on another ally: Harry's daughter, Maddie, who joins the Cold Case Unit and uncovers surprising documents concerning one of the most emblematic news stories of the last century. As the first case, already complex, becomes dangerous, Ballard, Harry, and Maddie are needed to find criminals whose victims' families have been waiting too long to see arrested. Because with cold cases, the worst part isn't the hope, it's the waiting.
