The third atmospheric psychological thriller featuring detectives Cardinal and Delorme, from the award-winning author of Forty Words for Sorrow. It's early summer in Algonquin Bay and the black flies aren't the only ones out for blood. Someone is trying to kill a young red-haired woman, but after being shot in the head with a small-calibre weapon she cannot remember her own name or where she's from, let alone why anyone would want to hurt her. Then a body turns up, horribly mutilated. Wombat Guthrie, biker and drug dealer, has taken his last ride. It seems inconceivable that the two cases could be linked, but as detectives Cardinal and Delorme pursue their invesigations the name 'Red Bear' keeps cropping up. An Iroquois shaman, Red Bear has recently moved into the drug trade, enlisting the aid of the spirit world to direct his followers to rival gangs' drugs and money. In return, the 'spirits' demand sacrifice -- human sacrifice. As the mysterious young woman slowly regains her memory, Cardinal begins to suspect that she may not be so innocent after all, and that her recovered 'memories' may not be the whole truth. And what of Red Bear? Is he really an Iroquois? Really a shaman? Or just another drug dealer with an appetite for brutal murder? Somehow Cardinal and Delorme must find the answers before the spirits claim another sacrifice.