Lincoln Rhyme Series - #4
Simon and Schuster
January 2003
Featuring: Lincoln Rhyme; Amelia Sachs
576 pages ISBN: 0743437802 Paperback (reprint) Add to Wish List
The Stone Monkey begins with a mass murder at sea,
as the Chinese freighter Fuzhou Dragon sails toward New
York, carrying a clandestine cargo of illegal immigrants.
When a Coast Guard vessel intercepts the ship just miles
off the U.S. mainland, the leader of the immigrants -- a
vicious, elusive "human smuggler" known as Ghost -- blows
up the ship and escapes on a lifeboat, leaving his charges
to die. Against all odds, several of the immigrants
survive, make their way to shore, and go to ground in the
self-contained society of New York's Chinatown.
Ghost -- who has never been photographed or fingerprinted,
and who is determined to eliminate all potential
witnesses -- begins the process of tracking the survivors
down. At the same time, Lincoln Rhyme, acting on behalf of
the FBI, the NYPD, and the INS, leads a desperate, round-
the-clock effort to locate the survivors before Ghost
does. The two hunters rely on radically different methods.
Ghost makes use of Chinatown's violent criminal subculture
and employs information gleaned from corrupt government
officials. Rhyme, of course, utilizes his forensic
expertise, teasing viable clues out of minute traces of
physical evidence. The ensuing duel between two equally
obsessed opponents dominates this compelling, beautifully
detailed narrative.