Although the novels are written in multiple perspectives and narrated omnisciently, the main character in all three is Lloyd Hopkins.

Eighteen years later, Hopkins is now a sergeant with the LAPD and has the highest number of arrests of any officer in the department's history.

He is considered a genius by many of his associates for his uncanny ability to make intuitive leaps of logic when tracking down criminals.

Hopkins quickly deduces that the person responsible for this murder has in fact been killing women since the late 1960s, but has never been caught because he always changes his modus operandi.

His wife loves Lloyd, but begins to realize that his habits are not healthy for their children, particularly his propensity for telling them about the cases that he has worked on.