1981. The Republicans are back in power as Ronald Reagan assumes the presidency; two months later he is shot by John Hinkley in a bizarre attempt to grab the attention of actress Jodie Foster. Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. Prince Charles of England marries the callow Lady Diana...

1981. The Republicans are back in power as Ronald Reagan assumes the presidency; two months later he is shot by John Hinkley in a bizarre attempt to grab the attention of actress Jodie Foster. Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. Prince Charles of England marries the callow Lady Diana Spencer, who becomes of focus of unimaginable worldwide attention and adoration. Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Aca in St Peter's Square, Vatican City. IBM releases its first personal computer, the IBM 5150. British police catch the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, ending a major manhunt. Seven prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army and three from the Irish National Liberation Army starve themselves to death in a hunger strike. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, the first recognized cases of AIDS.
Brattleboro, Vermont, is enjoying new cultural experiences and the promise of a new decade. The city is also experiencing a series of peculiar deaths, some seemingly natural, some seemingly accidents, and some that are clearly deliberate. There seems to be no initial pattern in terms of victims or manners of death, confounding the police and a private investigative firm.
The investigative firm, Triptych, is run by two brothers and their sister, triplets, whose lives were interrupted by a tragic event that brought them back to their hometown and changed their life paths. Through hard work and a little bit of luck, the triplets uncover an insidious pattern to the deaths and set their sights on discovering who the killer is and stopping him before he completes his plan.
As they band together with the police to share investigations, theories, and clues, the twisted killer is terrorizing the city with a sinister ruthlessness that is stacking up bodies and keeping his pursuers at bay. The hunt climaxes in a desperate journey to find the last victim before the killer finalizes his plan and disappears.
But that climax is far from the end of the story, a twist no one would have imagined, or prepared for ...