A new case of the wheelchair-bound brilliant criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his student, assistant and lover - the talented detective Amelia Sachs! And this case is directly connected with the family of Lincoln Rhyme himself: his cousin Arthur is accused of the murder of a young wealthy lady. Against Arthur everything: from evidence to witness testimony. Lincoln and Amelia undertake to prove that in reality the murder of which Arthur is accused is part of a long chain of crimes committed by a mysterious maniac. It seems that this man has colossal capabilities and has launched a real war against the police and the FBI... But who is this “dark” genius, capable of fooling even the most experienced criminologists?