L.T. VARGUS & TIM MCBAIN

The package arrives first class. A manila envelope bulging with bubble wrap. With the top slit open, what lies within can just faintly be seen: A swath of human flesh sealed in plastic.

When a popular podcaster receives a disturbing package in the mail, FBI profiler Victor Loshak heads to Denver to investigate. The grisly contents of the bubble mailer are unlike anything he’s seen.

Somewhere out there is a victim without a face.

Feds swarm the scene. The US Postal Inspection Service tracks down the point of the package’s origin. Special Agent Loshak works up a psychological profile to assist the task force’s investigation. Just when they’re making initial progress, they get word: A second package has arrived.

A letter opener shaped like a cutlass slits the top of the envelope. The flaps open wide like a mouth.

The scope of the case quickly balloons. Multiple packages at multiple locations. Each carries another gruesome payload, wrapped in plastic. Forensic details quickly confirm more than one victim.

Loshak can only ride along as the task force scrambles from scene to scene. Working. Documenting. Trying to catch up.

At last, some progress arrives. Multiple points of shipping origin emerge, all of them fairly local. The search for suspect and victims alike begins to tighten.

But the key to solving the case remains shrouded: Why would a person commit such atrocities?

Loshak will once again have to enter the mind of a killer, let the darkness in, understand the motives from the inside. As always, the cost will be high, and the danger will be higher.