The protagonist Abelard Collins, a child of diminutive stature and a painful upbringing reaches adulthood in an embittered state that directs him into extreme actions. In contrast to what he considers his physical limitations, he possesses a brilliant mind, capable of a creativity that can reach great heights. But instead of using the skills acquired when he becomes a surgeon of great eminence, he turns his greatest abilities of innovation against those who have become the symbol of his degradation: athletes of an imposing physical presence. What transpires over the course of the narrative becomes a three-way exercise in intellectual prowess that includes his father Marcus Collins, and the detective leading the investigation, Silas Peterson, the man who acts the part of both friend and nemesis.