A carefully chosen group of emotionally disturbed people in Dale Falls, New York, receive chain letters that ask recipients to kill one person. Slowly and horribly, Dale Falls' population drops as Paul Marnay, divorced father, amateur sleuth and target to die, learns that a deadly chain is only as strong as its most demented link.
From the author of Elizabeth and Childgrave comes the chilling tale of a computer generated chain letter that instructs a group of emotionally ill recipients to kill a stranger, bringing about a series of grisly murders in the town of Dale Falls, New York in this suspenseful mystery.

"Dear Prospective Killer: There is someone you wish dead..."

This is no ordinary chain letter. Its rules are simple. Its results are grotesque. Its consequences look like a string of accidents, or the work of a twisted serial killer acting alone.

As recipients of the letter fall for its request, slowly and horribly, the population of Dale Falls drops, one by one by one...You kill a stranger, then a stranger will kill for you, but break the chain, and you will be killed.

In the midst of the crimes, Paul Marnay, divorced father, amateur sleuth, and a target of death, is about to learn that a deadly chain is only as strong as its most demented link--the controlling link--the Chainmaster.