A Deadly Meeting in the Bayou

The story opens during a sweltering Louisiana summer with Sloane Sutherland, a vigilante serial killer known to the public as “The Orb Weaver,” in serious trouble. After tracking notorious murderer Albert Briscoe, better known as the “Beast of the Bayou,” she ends up captured and locked inside one of his cages instead of killing him. Before Briscoe can finish the job, another hunter arrives: Rowan Kane, an Irish-born chef whose own murderous exploits have earned him the nickname “Boston Butcher.”

The two quickly realize they share an unusual hobby—they exclusively hunt and kill other serial killers. After working together to eliminate Briscoe and burn his home to the ground, they sit down for a surprisingly civilized meal. Their chemistry is immediate, and Rowan proposes an unusual tradition. Every year, they’ll compete to see who can track down and kill a designated serial killer first. What begins as a morbid game soon becomes the foundation of an increasingly complicated relationship.

The First Hunt in West Virginia

A year later, the first official competition begins. Rowan’s older brother, Lachlan Kane, a talented leatherworker who secretly works as a highly paid contract killer, selects their first target.

Sloane and Rowan travel to the Cunningham Inn in Ivydale, West Virginia, where they stay under the watchful eye of the innkeeper, Francis. During the investigation, Rowan learns more about Sloane’s personal life, especially her friendship with Lark Montague, a music therapist who is the only person Sloane completely trusts.

Their investigation eventually uncovers Francis’s horrifying secret. Rather than simply running an inn, he has built hidden passages throughout the building so he can spy on his unsuspecting guests before selecting victims for his own twisted entertainment.

When Francis realizes he’s been discovered, he tries to escape, but Rowan catches him outside and savagely beats him to death, winning the first round of their competition. As they dispose of the body, Rowan opens up about his childhood for the first time, revealing the years of abuse he and Lachlan suffered at the hands of their violent father and how the brothers ultimately killed him to escape.

The Cannibal’s Mansion

About six months later, Sloane visits Rowan in Boston, where he runs his successful restaurant, 3 In Coach. While there, she meets Lachlan again, whose intimidating personality immediately puts her on edge. Things only become more awkward when she misinterprets Rowan’s friendship with the glamorous socialite Anna, convincing herself she has embarrassed herself. Mortified, she returns home to Raleigh before Rowan can explain.

Determined to repair the damage, Rowan spends the next week cooking with her over the phone. He sends groceries to her house each day, and together they prepare meals despite being hundreds of miles apart. The shared ritual helps rebuild the closeness between them.

Their next competition sends them to California to hunt Thorsten Harris, who now lives under the identity Jeremy Carmichael. Behind the façade of wealth and sophistication lies a cannibalistic serial killer who hosts lavish dinner parties while secretly serving human flesh.

During one of those dinners, Rowan unknowingly drinks drugged wine and nearly becomes Thorsten’s next meal. Sloane notices something is wrong before drinking her own glass, allowing her to stay alert. She overpowers Thorsten and kills him herself, winning the round.

Rather than simply disposing of the body, Sloane creates one of her signature artistic crime scenes, arranging Thorsten’s corpse into an elaborate topographical map that marks the locations of all his hidden victims.

While searching the mansion, they also discover David Miller, a seemingly broken servant whose personality appears to have been destroyed after years of abuse and lobotomization. Feeling sorry for him, they decide to take him with them rather than leave him behind.

The Texas Hunt Brings Them Together

As time passes, Rowan and Sloane grow closer outside of their annual competitions. They even attend a glamorous gala together, although the evening ends abruptly when an explosion in the kitchen damages Rowan’s restaurant and forces him back to work.

Their next target is Harvey Mead, a brutal chainsaw-wielding murderer living in rural Texas.

The hunt quickly turns disastrous. Sloane is attacked, suffers a badly dislocated shoulder, takes a boot to the face, and falls into a cellar where she discovers another captive, Autumn, who is still alive. Despite her injuries, Sloane manages to alert Rowan before Harvey can kill either of them.

Rowan arrives just in time to rescue them. Together they finally corner Harvey, but instead of killing him outright, Sloane uses his own preserved, mummified mother to terrify him so completely that the shock literally kills him.

With Sloane badly injured, Rowan takes her to Nebraska to recover under the care of his younger brother, Fionn Kane, a physician who can treat criminals without involving the authorities.

At Fionn’s house they meet Rose, a sarcastic former circus performer staying with him. Rose immediately recognizes the obvious attraction between Rowan and Sloane and has no problem pointing it out. Away from the violence and constant competition, the pair finally admit what has been building between them for years and begin a romantic relationship.

David’s Deception

As Rowan prepares to open his second restaurant, Butcher & Blackbird, everything begins falling apart.

The supposedly helpless David Miller reveals that he has been deceiving them from the very beginning. He was never a damaged victim at all. Instead, he is the infamous South Bay Slasher, another serial killer who manipulated Rowan and Sloane into rescuing him so he could stay close to them. While living under Rowan’s protection, David has secretly sabotaged Rowan’s restaurants and patiently waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

He traps Rowan inside the restaurant kitchen and begins methodically torturing him, slicing strips of flesh from his arm while forcing him to watch.

Sloane arrives before David can kill Rowan, but she realizes she can’t overpower him directly. Instead, she performs the greatest deception of her life. Pretending she never cared about Rowan, she coldly claims their entire relationship was nothing more than a game and insists she only ever wanted to win their competitions.

Believing Rowan has truly been betrayed, David lets his guard down just long enough for Sloane to seize a scalpel and kill him.

Only after David is dead does Rowan realize every cruel word Sloane spoke was a calculated lie meant to save his life.

A Bloody Proposal

With David finally dead, Rowan wastes no time waiting for the perfect romantic setting.

Standing in the middle of the bloody crime scene, he proposes to Sloane using a sapphire engagement ring he had hidden inside one of the victims’ eye sockets as a surprise gift.

Sloane happily accepts.

The two embrace the strange life they’ve built together, looking forward to a future filled with shared meals, playful sparring in the garage, and continuing their annual tradition of hunting murderers side by side.

Epilogue

The novel ends by hinting that Rowan and Sloane’s story is far from over.

Watching them from across the street is a mysterious man known only as The Phantom. He is revealed to be the brother of one of Rowan’s previous victims and has spent years waiting for revenge.

Rather than targeting Rowan directly, The Phantom decides the best way to make him suffer is to come after the person he loves most—his brother, Lachlan Kane—setting up the events of the next novel.