Forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan is not easily shocked, but even she finds the sight of the hand disturbing.

And she's under pressure to find answers before thousands of fans arrive for the biggest race of the year. But before she can carry out a proper examination, the FBI confiscate and destroy the body with no explanation.

Then Wayne Gamble, a young engineer, alerts her to the disappearance of his sister and her boyfriend from Charlotte twelve years earlier, and Tempe determines to uncover what really happened to them.

When, a few days later, Gamble's body is found crushed under the wheels of a racecar, Tempe realizes the situation is far more sinister than she had imagined. And that even her own life could be in terrible danger...