"A woman awakes in her New York City apartment to find that someone has picked her apartment's supposedly impregnable door lock and rearranged her things, even sitting beside her while she slept. The intrusion, the police know, is a message to the entire city of carnage to come. With blood about to spill, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are enlisted to track down the Locksmith and discover his true mission. But the past comes looking for Rhyme: an internal investigation uncovers a crucial mistake in one of his previous cases. He's fired as a consultant for the NYPD--and must conduct his hunt for the Locksmith under cover of darkness."--Book jacket flap.