Earl Brooks is a highly-respected businessman who was recently named Portland's Man of the Year. He hides a terrible secret, though: he is a serial killer known as the Thumbprint Killer. He has been attending AA meetings and has kept his addiction to killing under control for two years now but his alter-ego Marshall has re-appeared and is pushing him to kill again. When he does kill a couple while they are making love, he is seen and photographed by someone who has his own death and murder fetish. In a parallel story, the police detective investigating the murder is having her own problems: she is going through a messy divorce, and a violent criminal who had vowed revenge some years before has escaped from prison and is after her.—garykmcd