Forensic scientist Lincoln Rhyme arrives at a world-renowned spinal cord surgery center in North Carolina in the hope that a complex operation using a new technique will give him more freedom of movement. He knows that the outcome of the operation could be fatal for him. But even before the operation, the local police department asks Rhyme and his assistant Amelia to use their forensic skills to find two women abducted by a mentally unstable teenager, nicknamed in those parts the insect boy. A game of cat and mouse among the desert swamps of North Carolina leads to dire consequences that no one could have predicted.