Dr. Kay Scarpetta is now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.

Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City examining an injured man at the psychiatric prison ward. Oscar Bane, chained and handcuffed, had specifically asked for Scarpetta and as the interview begins, the story Oscar relates is the most peculiar tale Kay has ever heard.