A serial killer is roaming the streets of New York. He kills with inhuman cruelty and each time slips past the police, as if dissolving into thin air. Is it a spell? Mysticism? Or the tricks of an illusionist? Crime-expert Lincoln Rhyme—confined to a wheelchair—and his longtime partner, Amelia Sachs, are brought in to investigate. They begin an intense game of cat and mouse, where everything is not as it seems at first glance. They have to hurry, because the “magician” is preparing a terrifying revenge plan…