During an Ebola-like viral outbreak in New Orleans identical to the one chronicled in the best-seller The Hot Zone, Chief Medical Examiner Andy Broussard and criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn find that the lethal epidemic is not the only killer stalking the Big Easy.When Kit Franklyn receives a mysterious invitation to Grandma O's famous Cajun restaurant along with one long-stemmed yellow rose, she can't resist the urge to discover the identity of her suitor. At the restaurant, she approaches a table where an older gentleman is waiting with another rose. He stands, speaks her name, and keels over dead. Who is this stranger? And why do her parents seem to be holding something back when she tells them the story?Broussard's autopsy of the dead man uncovers the presence of a deadly virus that causes its victims to bleed to death in a matter of days - a virus for which there is no known cure. While conducting an investigation into the dead man's identity, Kit and her longtime boyfriend, Teddy LaBiche, disappear. Another corpse shows up in the early stages of the same disease as the first victim, but with ligature marks around his neck and bearing a clue to Kit and Teddy's whereabouts. Broussard's race to save Kit and Teddy and stop the spread of the virus results in a chilling confrontation with a brilliant, extremely violent psychopath deep in the Louisiana bayou, revealing the lengths to which a family will go to keep its dark secrets. Read Less