Quadriplegic ex-cop Lincoln Rhyme was looking forward to his assisted suicide when he got the news: some sicko was abducting people and leaving them to die in particularly sadistic ways. With time counting down between each abduction and possible death, Rhyme recruits a rather-unwilling beat copy, Amelia Donaghy, who is haunted by her cop father's suicide, into working the crime scenes to track down the killer.