Dr. Hope Allerd--intelligent, driven, and independent minded--has landed a fellowship under the mercurial and enigmatic Dr. Francis Peril. His Protocol is a miracle treatment for meningitis. A fledgling romance blossoms between Hope and Peril, until Clive Andrew, a reporter from Peril's past appears claiming that Peril is the most horrific serial murderer since Jack the Ripper. Brutally murdered women begin turning up on the hospital campus. The police are baffled. Andrew is certain that Peril is the killer. Driven by her tragic past, Hope investigates the murders bent on proving the reporter wrong. Hope finds that his newspaper has sacked Clive for plagiarism. As she digs further she discovers inconsistencies in the Protocol and a sinister side of Francis Peril. Finally, she reaches a point of no return and, too late, realizes that she is slated to be the next victim of murder. Can she trust Clive, a man with an untrustworthy past, to help her escape a certain death, or will Peril turn out to be her savior?