The story starts when Kay Farrow, a photographer suffering from photophobia (the inability to see colors) is walking down the 'Gulch', a section of San Francisco where the hustling scene takes place, to her meeting with one of the hustlers: Tim Lovsey aka 'Rain'.
Nowadays, Kay is interested in this drug- and sexscene, to find out who really are the stalkers and the prey. She is familiar with most of the people there; they even gave her a nickname: Bug, short for Shutterbug.
Tim doesn't show up at the set time, so she goes home.
The day after she hears that Tim has been killed and that his head and limbs have been separated
from his torso and a '7' is written on his back. This case resembles another
one, which happened 15 years ago. These cases included 6 killings, each with
tattooed victims and severed limbs, known as the T-case files. Kay's dad played a major
role in one of these cases. But it s clear that he and the then present cops
are not telling everything.
Also, there is a suspicious ex-client of Tim and finally it becomes clear
that Tim had a twin sister, Ariane 'Amoretto', and that they had a background with a magician.
So how does all this fit in? Ofcourse, Kay has to find out what really happened and with the help of a cop, a vagabond and her dad, she solves the puzzle.
Generally, this book is pretty much the same as any other suspense novel. And it
is certainly a lack that Hunt didn't do something with Kay's photophobia, as I expected
he would (you know: in the sense of turning something bad into something good).
The plot isn't exactly breathtaking, because you can see it coming. But I like this way better
than a sudden and highly far-fetched end. You can think along with Kay,
putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
In short: a nice, but moderate tale.
