When notorious underworld figure Carlo Franconi is gunned down, his mafioso competitors become prime suspects. Suspicious are fueled when Franconi’s body disappears from the city morgue before it can be autopsied – much to the embarrassment of the authorities, but to the amusement of forensic pathologist Dr. Jack Stapleton. 

          A few days later, when the mutilated, unidentifiable body of a "floater" arrives on the autopsy table, Jack is troubled by the case. While unidentified bodies routinely make their way to the medical examiner’s office, what piques Jack’s curiosity is not so much this body’s missing head, hands, and feet, but also its liver. 

          Aided by his colleague Dr. Laurie Montgomery, Jack identifies the corpse as the missing Franconi. Who killed Carlo Franconi? And was the killer also responsible for the theft of Franconi’s body? Their investigation leads to the jungles of Africa where they discover a sinister cabal whose activities include surgical procedures far beyond current technology.