Detective Morgan Blackburn rules New Dresden's Homicide Division with cold brilliance and a perfect clearance rate. When she discovers a man who survived being shot and buried alive, only to die mysteriously in the hospital, she uncovers a case that defies logic.

As the city embraces AI-powered police vehicles that promise to prevent crime, Blackburn sees a threat to everything she's built. She navigates hospital drug dealers, construction workers with secrets, and her own team's dangerous incompetence while managing the ambitious reporter Brynn Cassidy who circles her cases.

Then an autonomous vehicle deliberately strikes and kills a pedestrian before destroying itself in flames. The investigation reveals someone may be weaponizing the very technology meant to protect the city. Blackburn must maintain her iron control over both her department and her intense private life, where her need for dominance extends far beyond the interrogation room.

In a city where machines promise to predict human behavior, Blackburn remains the most unpredictable force of all, willing to do whatever it takes to stay on top.