Emily Winston lies dead in the woods, just a few feet from the trail on which she'd been training for her next marathon. Hardly able to believe it themselves, investigating detectives Renaldo Hernandez and Kaitlin Richardson discover information that indicates a sick individual, with a hatred of Emily's sport, could be the culprit, a hypothesis strengthened by additional chaos affecting the running community. But dark elements arise unrelated to running, and no single theory seems to satisfactorily explain all the facts. Not least among the confusing evidence are obscure geometrical messages popping up at crime scenes and bizarre choices for the weapons of death. Seven young men and women, four of them runners participating in the same marathon training program, find themselves caught in the web of intrigue - some as pawns to be manipulated and others as ancillary victims. One of them has been selected for special attention by the twisted individual behind the crimes. The seven lives are transformed as they deal with greed, evil, rejection, deception, infidelity, insecurity, lust, love, forgiveness, and redemption.