In the hands of this killer, everything becomes a deadly weapon - the 12th case for Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs! Two weeks after a brutal murder in Manhattan, Detective Amelia Sachs is hot on the trail of the suspected killer. She engages in a chase with him in a shopping mall in Brooklyn when a technical malfunction occurs on one of the escalators - with devastating consequences. The steps collapse, a man falls, and is crushed by the machinery. Shortly thereafter, Amelia and her partner Lincoln Rhyme realize that this incident was by no means an accident. The perpetrator is turning everyday objects and smart technologies into murder weapons - and he is clearly planning further attacks.