"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, in 2002." -- Title page verso.

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY FICTION (POST C 1945). The bestselling author of "The Surgeon" returns and so does that chilling novel s diabolical villain. Though held behind bars, Warren Hoyt still haunts a helpless city, seeming to bequeath his evil legacy to a student all-too-diligent . . . and all-too-deadly. THE APPRENTICE It is a boiling hot Boston summer. Adding to the city s woes is a series of shocking crimes, in which wealthy men are made to watch while their wives are brutalized. A sadistic demand that ends in abduction and death. The pattern suggests one man: serial killer Warren Hoyt, recently removed from the city s streets. Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires. At least that s what Detective Jane Rizzoli thinks. Forced again to confront the killer who scarred her literally and figuratively she is determined to finally end Hoyt s awful influence . . .