They call July the 'mean season' in Miami, and this hot summer a clever, elusive killer is terrorising the entire city. The first female victim was just a good story for reporter Malcolm Anderson, even after he interviewed her family and friends and saw the pain and fear in their eyes. But the killer likes Anderson's stories. He wants to tell him that he'll kill again, and a series of phone calls feed the reporter a stream of his biggest front-page exclusives.

Trapped by his hottest story, between his editors who want him to keep the story alive, by the police who want to help him catch a killer, by his girlfriend who wants their lives safe again, and by his own fascination with the murderer tortured by the sins of Vietnam, Anderson's stories make him a national celebrity - and could make him the next victim ...