Listen Story:
On a humid night in Manhattan, a man named Edward Carney, a respected businessman, leaves his office to catch a train home. He doesn’t know that someone is watching him — someone who times every movement with eerie precision. As Carney walks through the dark streets, he suddenly finds himself attacked. The killer, calm and methodical, ties him up in an abandoned building, places an oversized antique clock beside him, and tells him that he must die exactly when the clock strikes the appointed time. The man’s last moments are filled with terror as the clock ticks down. When the police find the body, the words “The Watchmaker” become the only clue to the murderer’s identity.
Detective Lincoln Rhyme, a brilliant forensic criminalist confined to a wheelchair after an accident, is called to the case. He works alongside Detective Amelia Sachs, his skilled partner and the one who physically investigates crime scenes on his behalf. Together, they examine the disturbing evidence left behind — meticulously placed clocks, precise timing devices, and notes written with mathematical care. The killer seems obsessed with time, order, and ritual. Rhyme immediately senses that this murderer is unlike anyone they’ve encountered before.
As the investigation deepens, Rhyme and Sachs discover that the Watchmaker plans each murder down to the smallest detail. Every death is timed, every clue deliberate. Another victim soon turns up — a woman named Allison McKenzie, who is found bound to a chair with a clock beside her, her life ending exactly when the hour hand strikes twelve. The city grows tense as it becomes clear that the Watchmaker is leaving a pattern of death across New York. Each murder is staged as a form of art — a perfect synchronization of seconds and suffering.
While Rhyme works the forensic angles, Sachs finds herself drawn into another, seemingly unrelated case. A young patrol officer named Kara, who recently joined the force, stumbles upon a suspicious death that looks like suicide. A girl from a troubled background, Kara shows a sharp eye for detail and a natural detective’s instinct. Sachs begins mentoring her, sensing something special in her. Kara’s case, however, begins to overlap with Rhyme’s pursuit of the Watchmaker. Slowly, the threads of both investigations start to twist together.
The Watchmaker, whose real name remains unknown, continues his game. He takes pleasure in his victims’ fear as they watch the clocks ticking down. He leaves taunting clues behind — fragments of gears, watch parts, cryptic notes about time and fate. He studies his victims’ routines and schedules, killing them with mechanical precision. His intelligence and meticulous nature make him a ghost — always one step ahead. Rhyme begins to realize that this killer might have studied him, too, predicting his every move.
Meanwhile, Sachs’ young trainee Kara becomes more entangled in danger. She discovers connections between the Watchmaker’s victims and a string of financial crimes involving hidden money and betrayal. The deeper she digs, the more she becomes a target herself. The Watchmaker notices her interference and adds her name to his list. Time, for Kara, begins to run out.
Rhyme, confined to his lab, feels the pressure mounting. He uses every forensic technique — fingerprints, trace fibers, digital evidence, and timing patterns — to reconstruct the killer’s movements. His assistant, Thom, and tech expert Mel Cooper help piece together data that seems impossible to decode. They realize the Watchmaker uses antique clocks not just as symbols but as instruments of control. Each one corresponds to a different philosophical message about mortality and destiny.
As the clues tighten, the detectives learn that the Watchmaker is not working alone. He has an accomplice — a woman named Mary, who helps him lure victims. Cold, intelligent, and devoted to his cause, she believes in his idea that time is the only true law. Together, they create elaborate crime scenes that leave almost no evidence behind. Every tick of the clock, every second that passes, is part of their deadly design.
Rhyme and Sachs trace the Watchmaker’s movements to a man named Randall Garret, a clockmaker with a criminal past and a fascination with the philosophy of time. They raid his workshop, only to find it abandoned — filled with hundreds of clocks ticking in perfect harmony. On the walls are blueprints and notes that suggest future murders, all synchronized to specific times across the city. It becomes clear that the Watchmaker’s plan is far from over.
The tension grows as Rhyme deciphers the killer’s coded notes, which hint at a major event set to happen soon — something involving multiple deaths at once. Sachs and Kara rush across the city to prevent it. In a warehouse filled with ticking clocks and bombs rigged to explode at exact intervals, they confront the Watchmaker’s partner, Mary. A gunfight ensues, and Mary is shot but not before revealing that the Watchmaker has already escaped.
As the police scramble to find him, Rhyme finally pieces together the truth from a small, overlooked clue — a fiber found near one of the clocks that leads to a remote cabin upstate. Sachs and a tactical team storm the place, but the Watchmaker once again anticipates their arrival. The cabin explodes moments before they can enter, a carefully timed trap. The Watchmaker is gone, leaving behind only another clock — its hands frozen at midnight.
The aftermath leaves everyone shaken. Rhyme realizes the Watchmaker is alive, watching them still, perhaps even closer than they think. Kara’s bravery earns her recognition, but she remains haunted by the killer’s obsession with time. Sachs, too, feels the shadow of the Watchmaker looming over her. Rhyme studies the final evidence in his lab late at night, the faint ticking of a clock echoing around him. He knows the killer will return — because for the Watchmaker, the game is not over.
Months later, a small package arrives at Rhyme’s apartment. Inside is an antique pocket watch engraved with the words, “Until next time.” The hands point to twelve, and as Rhyme stares at it, he understands the message perfectly. The Watchmaker is alive, patient, and waiting — counting every second until they meet again. The case may have ended, but time itself has become their battlefield.