Harvard College, 1937. In America, tensions are rising as war clouds spread across Europe, but for Harvard sophomores Jim Rousmaniere and his roommate John F. Kennedy, a nightmare begins closer to home.

Their carefree campus life of dining hall pranks and spirited debates is shattered when Jim's adopted stray cat is found mutilated and dying on a dorm room floor. One of the nine men living on their corridor is guilty of hideous cruelty. But which one?

The nightmare darkens when Maggie Halloran, a young Irish immigrant and friend of Jim and Jack, disappears without word. As the pair grapples with what they're willing to risk, it will take every measure of courage and resourcefulness to track down the monstrous predator who may live next door.

In a stunning blend of fact and fiction, Mrazek leads readers on a hunt from Harvard Yard to the brothels of South Boston and the Kennedy mansion at Hyannis Port as an array of real-life characters, including Langston Hughes and a young Leonard Bernstein, find their way into these gripping pages.