Plot
The novel opens where Cold Vengeance left off: with Pendergast's meeting with his wife, but now from her point of view.
Pendergast visits various functionaries of the Covenant, threatening them to find out information about the kidnapping. He finds they are taking Helen out of the country, in a private plane in Fort Lauderdale.
Pendergast manages to damage the plane, killing one of the kidnappers in the process. He then tracks down where they are going and follows them to Mexico.
Pendergast catches up to Helen and her kidnappers in the Mexican desert. He is riding a stolen Ducati Streetfighter motorcycle. He takes out one vehicle, then disables the vehicle in which Helen is riding.
In a standoff, one kidnapper shoots Helen fatally. Pendergast kills the killer, but misses the white-haired man who piloted the plane into Mexico, Wulf Konrad Fischer, who escapes. Pendergast buries his wife, then passes out above the grave.
Part Two
Alban Lorimer kills a woman in a hotel in NYC, by cutting her throat. He makes sure he is seen, and the police go over all of the hotel video. While conducting the autopsy, they discover that the killer left a piece of his ear at the crime scene. Lieutenant D’Agosta is in charge of the investigation.
The novel contains two sub-plots, one dealing with Corrie Swanson and one with Dr. Felder. We discover that Corrie Swanson was able to escape from the house and evade the Nazi that was ready to kill her (at the end of Cold Vengeance). Dr. Felder visits Constance in the Mount Mercy Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where she mentions that while she is not willing to be treated by him, she is willing to have him visit occasionally, as a friend.
Pendergast has given up: taking pills and seemingly ready to die. Vinny doesn’t think that he should interfere. Meanwhile, Lorimer kills another hotel guest, in a different hotel. Lady Viola Maskelene visits Pendergast, after being called by Captain Hayward, who tells her about the murder of Helen. Pendergast informs Viola that he intends to kill himself, using a drug invented by his ancestor that will give him a few minutes of total euphoria before he dies.
Corrie Swanson shows Pendergast the Nazi papers she found in the old house, but he doesn’t seem interested. He tells her to lay low for awhile: her estranged father lives in Allentown, PA and he suggests that she go there to stay for a month or so. Finally, D’Agosta is able to convince Pendergast to come up out of his stupor: he shows him the details of the current hotel murders. Pendergast proclaims that he knows who the killer is: his supposedly late brother, Diogenes.
Alban kills a third hotel guest, this time leaving his little toe at the scene. Agent Gibbs’ (the FBI agent assigned to the case) theory is that the killer has an unseen accomplice feeding information to the killer. D’Agosta agrees, and thinks the accomplice has access to the hotels’ video feeds.
Dr. Felder is trying to track down a lock of hair that Constance gave to the photographer, Alexander Wintour. He goes to his family home in Connecticut. He rents the gatehouse from Wintour’s grand-niece, who’s a bit of a recluse. He feels this is the only way to gain access to Wintour’s papers.
Corrie tracks down her father in a cabin in the woods. He has gone there as he was framed for a bank robbery. But he had been sending Corrie cards and presents for years. They were all returned by her mother, who told lies about her husband, convincing Corrie that her father had abandoned her.
Pendergast gets the killer’s mitochondrial DNA result. When he analyzes them, he staggers to his knees. He has realized that the killer is his and Helen’s son, and not Diogenes. A young man, claiming to be Pendergast's son, shows up at the Dakota, in Pendergast's apartment, with his missing ear, finger, and toe.
The boy has no name, and tells Pendergast (“Father!”) his story. He was raised in Nova Godoi, in Brazil. There are lots of twins: the “good” twin gets a name, a life, all of the good stuff. The weaker twin, with worse genes, gets nothing and does manual labor. He has escaped and found Pendergast. Pendergast names him Tristam, and has Proctor take him to a secluded room at 891 Riverside—Constance’s old room. Tristam is the weaker twin: his brother, Alban, the Nazi ideal, is the Hotel killer.
Corrie has gotten herself a job at the dealership where her father worked, in order to learn about the people working there. Dr. Fielder is planning to break into the Wintour library, because the old lady won’t allow him to look through Wintour’s papers.
Pendergast traces Tristam’s escape route back to an abandoned brewery, but all he finds is the word, “BETATEST,” after raising it from the table. He then works out where the next murder will be. He and Vinny arrive just as Alban has completed the murder, but before he can perform his ritualistic dismemberment.
Pendergast chases him: but Alban is able to confront him after kicking away his father's weapon: he says it’s time for a little father-son chat.
Vinny, feeling guilty, tells Captain Singleton that the murderer is Pendergast’s son. Pendergast had told him in confidence, and specifically told him not to share that information. As a consequence, Pendergast is put on 30 days leave, Vinny is removed as squad commander from the case, and Pendergast is now angry with his friend.
Meanwhile, Alban infiltrates 891 Riverside, defeats Proctor (but not killing him) and kidnaps Tristam.
Corrie continues to investigate to clear her father. She finds and takes his personnel file from the owner’s office. Charlie Foote, who seems to have been a friend of her father’s and also one of the more honest salesmen, catches her. He offers to help her clear her father’s name. He suggests that maybe his alibi can be proven. Corrie agrees to go to see her father and ask him about his alibi.
Pendergast goes to visit Constance in Mount Mercy and asks her for advice, as he has been thwarted at every turn. She suggests taking the fight to the den of Der Bund, in Nova Godoi, in Brazil. She also seems to think that Alban has some sort of hyper awareness or sixth sense that has been bred into him through the Nazis eugenics program. Pendergast goes to Brazil and meets with Colonel Souza, police chief of Alsdorf, a small town where there have been some serial murders in the previous six months. Souza is an honest man, in a country where most of the police are corrupt.
Pendergast suggests to the Colonel that they both suspect the source of the murders is Nova Godoi. Pendergast proposes that they, along with a large military/police force, attack. Pendergast mentions that he wants Alban and Tristam to not be harmed (he doesn’t name them to the Colonel). Also, that the man named Fischer is not to be touched—Pendergast will handle him.
Turns out that Foote is part of the scam, and he was trying to trick Corrie. She had figured that out, though, so she was able to get the drop on him. But heading to her father’s cabin, Foote was able to wound her father in the shoulder, and then hog-tie Corrie in the backseat of his car. Heading back to the car, after saying that he was going to kill her, Corrie kicks him in the groin, then her father sticks his penknife in Foote’s eye. The scam is that the dealership is selling non-existent cars, with the help of a crooked GMAC auditor.
Pendergast is able to enter the town, posing as a butterfly collector. He is able to get away from his guide, and finds where the lesser twins and other imperfect people are locked in.
Dr. Felder breaks into the Wintour library. He finds the lock of hair, but is caught by the beastly Dukchuk, Ms. Wintour’s manservant. She orders Dukchuk to kill Felder and bury him with the others. But the doctor manages to cut Dukchuk’s Achilles tendon with his scalpel and escape.
Pendergast gets captured, and escapes, killing some of the Nazis. He then signals to Colonel Souza and they coordinate their attack. Souza brings 30 of his best people. In the ensuing battle, all of Souza’s men are killed, including Souza and his son. They kill many Nazis as well. Pendergast manages to blow up the castle, killing many more Nazis. However, Fischer escapes, as well as Alban (though he is burned quite badly, with his face disfigured as well).
Pendergast, Alban, and Fischer have a Mexican standoff. Alban accuses Fischer of failing—he never should have allowed the “lesser” twins to survive, as this has caused the super twins to bond with them, causing the twins to take sides against their Nazi controllers. So Alban shoots Fischer dead. He then leaves, while Pendergast cannot bring himself to shoot his son.
Constance tells Dr. Felder her story, as a reward for him retrieving her lock of hair and for believing her story. She mentions that the story about killing her child was to convince the Chinese government that he was dead, so that he could be transported safely out of Tibet and into India, where he can be trained to be the nineteenth Rinpoche, in absentia.
Back in New York, Pendergast has helped lead D’Agosta to the traitor that communicated the location of the meeting between Helen and AP to Der Bund. It is Midge Rawley, Captain Singleton’s secretary. She is arrested, and Singleton’s reputation suffers, as he was harboring a traitor in his office. Vinny proposes to Laura, and she accepts.
At the 891 Riverside mansion, Pendergast writes a letter to Viola, thanking her for saving his life, and apologizing for his behavior towards her. He says, though, that going forward, they can only be friends. Constance (having recently been released from the Mount Mercy Hospital for the Criminally Insane) and Tristam are playing cards, and Pendergast asks Constance to act as mentor and older sister to Tristam.
