"Once again, recommended for practically everybody." - Booklist, starred Joe Pickett, recently fired from his job as a Wyoming game warden, receives a call from the governor's office. Governor Rulon has a special request - one Joe can't refuse. For weeks, the headlines have been abuzz with the story of Clay McCann, a lawyer who slaughtered four campers in cold blood in a far-off corner of Yellowstone National Park. McCann immediately turned himself in at the nearest ranger station, and was set free. His murders were committed in the so-called free-fire zone where, it seems, no one has jurisdiction. Public outrage forces Governor Rulon to pursue his own investigation, and as much as he hates to, he offers Joe reinstatement of his job if he'll go to Yellowstone to investigate. Happy to get his badge back, Joe agrees, but soon discovers that McCann is involved in something as sinister as it is lucrative - something that could get a man killed.