When his dad first brought Cobalt home to cheer him up after his brother Will died, ten-year-old Alan wanted nothing to do with the mutt. No dumb stray from an animal shelter was going to make him stop missing Will. But Cobalt was a special dog. A cross between an Alsatian and a Husky, his strange blue eyes glowed with an eerie kind of understanding...just like Will's used to.

For Cobalt does understand...all too well. He knows Alan's secrets -- even the most terrible one about why Will really drowned down at Amber Lake. He shares Alan's rage. And he wants revenge.

It would be so easy -- so right -- to set Cobalt free...free to kill, again and again. But once the bloodlust is unleashed, there can be no turning back...