Fade Out

A routine arrest. A rogue experiment. A mind rewritten.

Detective Rick Dietz never expected a simple bust to spiral into a case of genetic manipulation, psychological transformation-and murder. When his girlfriend, attorney Beth Hamilton, introduces him to Professor Ken Gormund, sparks fly. Gormund isn't just a rival for Beth's affections-he's a brilliant geneticist operating on the edge of legality.

At his Cincinnati research facility, Gormund has perfected a technique to reengineer DNA, turning ordinary pets into flawless specimens. But his ambitions escalate when he abducts a young thief, Nat Jiminson, and uses his own genome as a template to reshape the boy's mind and body. The results are stunning-until the virus mutates.

Jiminson becomes unstable. Violent. Dangerous. When Gormund decides to eliminate his creation, Jiminson escapes-taking Beth hostage in the process.

Now Dietz must navigate a maze of science, secrets, and betrayal. With Gormund as his uneasy ally, he races to stop a man who possesses the professor's intellect and a criminal's cunning. But can they outwit a mind engineered to be perfect?