Dr. Jim Bob Brady receives a call from Burnet County Sheriff Joan Wilcox, now a family friend, asking for his help in solving several murders in her jurisdiction. After years of trying to weasel his way into criminal investigations, he is taken aback, but not yet humbled, by her request.  

As Brady delves into the heinous crimes, in which each victim has been slain by a hatchet-like weapon, he discovers a common thread: each victim is missing their driver’s license. After study into the lives of the victims, he also finds that each has at one time been a patient in the same mental health care hospital.

Almost immediately, Brady finds himself being stalked, and eventually attacked, by someone who is at first too quick to identify. Once Mary Louise is also threatened, the Bradys try to extract themselves from the fray, but without success.

Brady delves into the most recent literature about mental disabilities and the world of medications designed for their treatment. Is there a pharmaceutical conspiracy underfoot? Who is the assailant after the Bradys? Who are the doctors distributing mysterious mental-health medications? Is there a new innovative treatment for a challenging mental-health disorder, or is this an act of treachery?