Wealthy Florida matron Abigail Bates is on a canoe trip down a backwater river when suddenly, from out of nowhere, she is held underwater to drown by a strange and merciless killer?

Thorn is aboard a houseboat in Hell?s Bay when he is confronted by Abigail?s son and alluring granddaughter. Thorn soon learns that they are his long-lost relatives?and that he is about to inherit a great fortune. He?s also about to find out that being a member of the Bates family comes with a price?

As he searches for clues about Abigail?s murder, Thorn?s houseboat becomes a precarious island of safety as he and the others find themselves hunted by an invisible enemy. For someone out there knows much more about the Bates family?s dark past than Thorn does. Someone who has lived a lifetime in their shadow?and has seen the damage their wealth and influence