Skin is supposed to be tight-fitting and hold in the meat and juices of life. Forensic pathologist Adrian Tucker has split the skin and spilled the juices of thousands of bodies in a never-ending search for cause of death.Natural causes or murder? Accident or intentional mayhem? Tucker and his macabre science will find the answer because he is the best there is. Everybody says so. As eccentric as he is brilliant, Tucker is at the height of his profession. As Medical Examiner of Tucson, Arizona, no one knows the stories of the dead better than he does. He finds himself suddenly thrown into the national spotlight when a series of brutal mass-murders lead the illegal immigration debate to the doorstep of his own morgue. Facing growing political pressure, Tucker relies on his few remaining friends: Barney, an aging detective (and his best friend), a widower with a 16-year-old daughter and a craving for a damaged FBI agent with a dark past of her own. Mark, Tucker's protégé, an up-and-coming pathologist, and Rhonda, Tucker's attractive young assistant who carries a secret that will throw his world on end. As the growing body count takes its toll on Tucker's mind, a deadly drug goes missing from his lab and a suspected child-predator goes free. Even those closest to him are beginning to have their doubts. With his professional pride on the line, Tucker must face the failings of his own private life to solve the most explosive case ever to pass across his cold steel table. Alone and out of time, Dr. John Tucker turns to the only ones he can really talk to... the dead.