Jeffery Deaver, "the master of manipulation" (Associated Press) and "the most creative, skilled and intriguing thriller writer in the world." (Daily Telegraph A tragedy occurs at a small concert venue on the Monterey Peninsula. Cries of "fire" are raised and, panicked, people run for the doors, only to find them blocked. A half dozen people die and others are seriously injured. But it's the panic and the stampede that killed them; there was no fire....

-- From the #1 international bestselling author of -- The Empty Chair is page-turning suspense of the highest order.

Drafted in to investigate a series of killings by a butcher known as the Skin Collector, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs have little to go on but a series of cryptic messages left etched into the skin of the deceased.

In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan's Diamond District, at the scene of a brutal triple murder, the killer left behind a half-million dollars' worth of gems at the scene. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer's target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves. Then a witness is left alive. Vimal Lahori, a young diamond cutter, can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case-- but has gone into hiding....