A serial killer terrorizes Northern Virginia, his ability to come and go baffling those pursuing him with zero success.
He disables the victims' wifi, attacking them in bed, the cause of death exsanguination due to sharp force injuries.
This has been going on for six months when Dr. Kay Scarpetta is awakened by her phone in the early morning hours of June 12, her birthday. She's informed that the Phantom Slasher has struck again, only this time there are two victims, and one of them has survived, the scene Mercy Island and its notorious old psychiatric hospital. This is a modern ghost story, a ghastly apparition seen around the time the Slasher strikes in each case. The same figure in black is spotted levitating through the fog, and the technical explanation is one that's of keen interest to the CIA, even the White House.
It's up to Scarpetta to stop the Phantom Slasher before they strike again and vanish, leaving another trail of blood in their wake.
Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger. It's the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well - but what other choice does she have? As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief - one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he's a monster. But when he delivers her safely to her destination, she realizes her fears were unfounded. And her heart sinks. Because a monster is what she's looking for. She'll try again tomorrow night. But will the man who took her sister take the bait?
Inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances, The Trap is the startlingly original new thriller from internationally bestselling author Catherine Ryan Howard.
'Dark and witty and clever. An original and highly gripping read, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' - Alice Feeney
'Howard has a sly gift for misdirection... Again and again, you'll blithely follow her down the wrong path' - New York Times
'A breakneck thriller with so many twists and turns that your head will spin. I absolutely tore through The Trap ' - Holly Seddon