When criminalist Lincoln Rhyme travels to a world-famous spinal cord injuries centre for experimental surgery, he hopes that the operation will give him slightly more movement.

HE KNOWS THAT IT MAY KILL HIM.

But before he has a chance to undergo it, he local police department draft in Rhyme and his assistant Amelia, using their forensic skills to help find two women kidnapped by a psychotic young man known locally as the Insect Boy.

And after a cat and mouse game through the abandoned swamps of North Carolina, Lincoln finds himself searching for both boy and lover.

While Amelia uses all the skills her mentor has taught her to evade him...