Abstract: On a freezing December night, with a full moon hovering in the black skies over New York City, two people are brutally murdered. Their prolonged deaths are marked by eerie calling cards: moon-faced clocks ticking away the victims' last minutes on earth. Lincoln Rhyme and his team have only hours to stop the icy-cold, brilliant Watchmaker, whose obsession with time drives him to plan his carnage with the precision of a fine timepiece. Amelia is not only Lincoln's eyes and ears on the Watchmaker investigation. She's now, for the first time, lead detective on a homicide - a case that sets into motion clockwork gears of its own. A case with consequences which will endanger many lives, as well as Lincoln and Amelia's future together...