Marianna Amberlin has been a triple agent for a year, resigning herself to the prospect of burning her true identity and entering deep cover when her supposed boss launches his insurrection. She jumps at the chance to end his immortality, sprinting against the ticking clock of victory or death.

SYNOPSIS:

Marianna was a recent graduate when she told Richard Dickinson how to live forever, sharing the secret of heinous immortality. As repayment, he froze an entire town with her inside, and forty years later, she pretended to accept his apology in exchange for power. Her mentor, Director Winthrop, planned a path to justice, at the expense of her reputation—but when the wrong person dies, she seizes the opportunity for a faster and more dangerous plan.

Winthrop had laid out a steady scheme to defeat Dickinson (now going by the non-name 'Warlock'), that relied on his abnormal psychological profile. It hinged on the need to keep the object of his obsession, Cleo Macintosh, alive until the right moment, hoping to save the day without her permanent sacrifice. Marianna accepted his plan, knowing what it would cost her.

But in the midst of the operation that was planned to cement Marianna's presence in Dickinson's inner circle, the girl dies—temporarily. And with that freak accident, Marianna moves quickly. She'll finish the hunt for the man's soul jars, his anchors to their plane of existence, and kill him before he can fully rise.

Of course, she must also fit her retrievals around her obligations in Dickinson's organization, and forestall his suspicions. Ideally, she will secure each jar before his own machinations are complete, and deliver vengeance for all her fellow victims from that town. She might even live through it—though whether she wants to, after everything she's done, is a different matter.