As the days grow shorter and the nights become longer, darkness is more evident. The darkness brings a companion in the form of a homicidal, rampaging killer that lurks in the shadows and gets stronger with each kill. Its vicious intent is uncontrollable and undeniable in the poor, suburbanite community of Lockport. The killer's first victim, a seventeen-year-old high school student, is viciously stabbed and then hung from a tree Halloween night in 2003. From that night forward, no one in this quaint town is safe from the wrath of this brutal maniac. Sheriff Edward Thomson begins to investigate the first murder when an old acquaintance, Robert Morris, arrives in town and offers his assistance. Morris is an old friend and a former employee of the sheriff's department. Thomson believes that enlisting Morris's aid might help solve the case, so Morris is paired with Officer Chuck Burnley, who doesn't yet trust his new partner. After snooping around, Burnley discovers that Morris's ex-partner was killed eight years ago, and as a scandal unfolded, Morris left the department in disgrace. Terror reigns in Lockport as residents disappear and others wonder who will be next. Young John East gets pulled into the drama and must discover the true identity of the killer before the body count gets any higher and before he becomes the next victim.