First published 1983
High above Rockefeller Center, a peregrine falcon circles in the sky. The bird waits for its falconer's signal. When the command comes, the falcon dives toward earth at nearly 200 miles per hour. Its target is a young woman walking below. The strike kills her instantly. This Edgar Award winning novel follows the investigation into what appears to be an impossible crime. How does someone use a bird of prey as a murder weapon in the heart of Manhattan? The falcon represents the ultimate predator, capable of speeds and precision that make it deadlier than any human killer. Yet someone has trained this creature to kill on command. The story explores the relationship between predator and prey in both the natural world and human society. As investigators work to solve the case, they must understand the mind of someone who can turn nature's most efficient hunter into an instrument of murder. The falcon becomes both weapon and symbol in a crime that challenges everything the authorities thought they knew about how people kill.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, impossible-crime
Setting: Rockefeller Center, Manhattan
Period: 20th-century
Mass Market Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: murder, violence