Publisher's Synopsis
Evan Felder is unremarkable in a crowd and is a conscientious worker who provides for his family. All this changes, however, when he is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour that is so painful he prays for any spiritual power to temper it. In response, the Devil eases his pain, but demands certain actions in exchange. His killing methods are vicious, and the skeletal remains he deposits at prominent points around Chicago earn him the media name, Mantis, as if a mantis had devoured the victims. As Evan grows in his power over Chicago he becomes brazen and demanding. He demands that the Chicago Cubs play the Chicago White Sox at Wrigley field. The Mayor actually arranges the game, hoping that the Mantis would appear and be apprehended. There is no story that equals this tale of murder, heinous enough to earn the perpetrator the predatory name.
