A man goes to Singapore on a shopping spree. A mother and son reunite in Thailand for a brief holiday. No one comes home. When expertly carved body parts start showing up, police know there's a serial killer on the loose. In these densely populated tourist destinations, police fear the perpetrator will disappear into the crowd and strike again. They will need both skill and luck to catch the butcher.

In Gorman, Maryland, a small rural community in the Appalachian mountains, a 19- year-old woman spends a frenetic hour getting cleaned up, made up, and dressed for success - and then disappears without a trace. But before rushing off, she stubbornly refuses to tell her co-workers or her family where she is going - or who exactly called her on the telephone. Investigators must act quickly to find the missing woman - and figure out who is behind a series of mysterious phone calls which seem to be targeting young women who live in the area - before more of them go missing - or worse.