Geneva Settle is a bright young high school student from Harlem writing a paper about one of her ancestors, a former slave called Charles Singleton. Geneva is also the target of a ruthless professional killer. Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his policewoman partner Amelia Sachs are called into the case, working frantically to anticipate where the hired gun will strike next and how to stop him, all the while trying to get to the truth of Charles Singleton, and the reason that Geneva has been targeted.
This over-the-top yet endlessly entertaining thriller from bestseller Palmer (The Fifth Vial) pits a country doctor against a conspiracy to kill the president. Dr. Gabe Singleton, an old friend of President Andrew Stoddard, is brought to Washington, D.C., from Wyoming when Jim Ferendelli, Stoddard's former doctor, goes missing. Almost immediately, things fall apart as Stoddard suffers from a random episode of incoherence, and Singleton is shot at while driving in early morning D.C. traffic. Complicating matters is Alison Cromartie, a sexy nurse who captures Singleton's heart. Singleton must figure out who's behind the president's mysterious illness, investigating everyone from the Secret Service agents to the vice president.
