Después de presenciar el rapto de su mujer en Central Park, el agente especial del FBI Aloysius Pendergast persigue desesperadamente a los secuestradores por el país hasta llegar a México. Sin embargo, todo sale trágicamente mal: los malhechores logran escapar, y Pendergast, destrozado, regresa a su apartamento en Nueva York para aislarse del mundo. Mientras tanto, en los hoteles de Manhattan se está cometiendo una serie de extraños asesinatos. En cada caso, las cámaras de seguridad captan imágenes claras de un joven pelirrojo, atlético, elegante y bien parecido que se mueve sin prisas por los pasillos de los distintos hoteles. Deja sus huellas, pelos y fibras en el escenario del crimen, pero siempre elude a la policía. Cuando el teniente Vincent D'Agosta acude a Pendergast, el agente no demuestra ningún interés por los hechos hasta que se fija en el modus operandi del asesino: escribe un mensaje en cada cadáver, y estos mensajes se dirigen solamente a él. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION After his wife, Helen, is brazenly abducted before his eyes, Special Agent Pendergast furiously pursues the kidnappers, chasing them across the country and into Mexico. But then, things go terribly, tragically wrong; the kidnappers escape; and a shattered Pendergast retreats to his New York apartment and shuts out the world. But when a string of bizarre murders erupts across several Manhattan hotels-perpetrated by a boy who seems to have an almost psychic ability to elude capture-NYPD Lieutenant D'Agosta asks his friend Pendergast for help. Reluctant at first, Pendergast soon discovers that the killings are a message from his wife's kidnappers. But why a message? And what does it mean? When the kidnappers strike again at those closest to Pendergast, the FBI agent, filled anew with vengeful fury, sets out to track down and destroy those responsible. His journey takes him deep into the trackless forests of South America, where he ultimately finds himself face to face with an old evil that-rather than having been eradicated-is stirring anew... and with potentially world-altering consequences. Confucius once said: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves." Pendergast is about to learn the hard way just how true those words still ring.