A master crime writer trains every weapon in his arsenal on a crime against humanity. In 1980s El Salvador, a young woman is detained in a government torture squad’s head-quarters, suspected of supporting guerilla forces. There, a bookish new recruit, Victor Peña, is assigned to assist in her interrogation. Before they learn so much as her name—Lorca—the squad relentlessly break her, body and soul. It is a terrifying journey into human cruelty and courage, one which years later—in the pinnacle of cosmopolitan America—still haunts the tormentor as dramatically as it does his victim.