Following his rejection by the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, Dr. Thelonious Zones finds himself counseling inmates at a South Georgia prison for his uncle's consulting firm. It's a job he abhors. He fears something in his past, from his childhood, may have skewed the psychological testing he underwent for the job against him. Everything changes for him, however, when he is visited by the FBI and local law enforcement during a prisoner counseling session. Dead bodies are showing up in Metro Atlanta's religious places. His knowledge of religious and institutional symbolism in crime scenes may help in deciphering the cryptic images left by the murderer. He is joined by a seasoned detective who doubts his theories of the crimes and sets out to prove him wrong. Zones' pursuit of answers leads him on a path riddled with mysticism and secret societies. The more he learns the more he is convinced that rigid dogma, based on ancient conflicts, is at the heart of the murders.