Former police detective Sergeant Marcus Lear’s career was ended by PTSD, the result of a gunfight with a 16-year-old burglary suspect. He has moved on by founding a company that is developing software to help law enforcement agencies solve complex criminal cases. 

Now, the serial murderer known as The Mousetrap Killer claims to have struck again. Three times in the past, he announced to the police chief of Maryvale, Indiana, that an innocent victim had been taken and imprisoned in an elaborate chamber, cleverly booby-trapped and set to kill if the victim could not solve a riddle in time. The riddle would provide a clue to escaping the trap. Every day, the Killer would taunt the police until the trap was sprung and the victim died. But no victim’s body had ever been recovered, and the killer was never identified. 

Now, the killer has sent another message announcing a new trap, and a new victim. Who has been dropped into that terrible prison this time? Where are they being held? And, who is the Mousetrap Killer? Desperate, the Maryvale police call on Marcus and his team to use their new and untested software application to help find the killer and the latest victim. Can the Lear team and Kat Montague, young Asian goth detective and Lear’s newest field agent, work with the local police and FBI to find the victim before time runs out? 

The task force swings into action while awaiting the next message from the killer, taunting the police and perhaps providing a clue to saving the victim. But why has the killer gone silent?! While pondering this new mystery, a frightening possibility is uncovered regarding the latest victim that hits very close to home. Marcus and his people must find the trap, and the victim, before it’s too late!