This book is a great exposure to what happened to Tony LeDoux after the Bobby Genty/Nick Shade events. You can read the book as a stand alone, but you will go back and read the others. The unraveling of 18 years of evil takes some time and has many twists along the way. Jo is a damaged and heroic survivor and you will find yourself rooting for her. Tony has his own demons that make this an even more difficult situation - is he helping his niece or making it harder on the police. This shady part of Georgia is well represented and perhaps a bit too accurate for comfort.