In a modern world where advanced biosyn implants mean everyone is subjected to a relentless visual stream of information they call the "Mind's Eye", privacy and anonymity as we know them have vanished. With everyone's personal information on public display and each person's life recorded down to the millisecond, personal information is downloaded to a vast grid called "The Ether", a database which law enforcement can access and use to prosecute criminals. Sal Frieland is faced with a series of shocking murders which appear to be linked. The police find themselves unable to identify the killers. It soon becomes apparent that what the murders have in common signals a major breakdown in the system on which society has come to rely. As he delves into the case, Frieland encounters a woman who seems to have no identity. Something he initially assumes is a minor glitch becomes the first clue that security of the "Mind's Eye" has been compromised, sending Frieland into a mission where he acts as bait to trap someone who effectively does not exist before they kill again.