Dean Corso, one of the foremost experts in locating, appraising, and purchasing rare books, accepts an unusual but extremely lucrative commission from the owner of the world’s largest library of occult books: to authenticate the crown jewel of the collection, a 17th-century folio titled *Nine Gates to the Realm of Ghosts*, which, according to legend, can be used to summon Lucifer himself. He is about to embark on a journey through Europe fraught with danger and mystery. But only when the bodies of people Dean Corso had met just recently begin to turn up on his path to unraveling the mystery of the “Nine Gates” does a sinister truth dawn on him. He realizes that in this devilish game, not only his life but also his soul is at stake.

Mike Church is a private investigator from Los Angeles who specializes in locating missing persons. He is working on the case of a young woman he calls Grace. She suffers from amnesia and remembers nothing of her past. She is constantly tormented by nightmares in which Margaret Strauss, a pianist from the late 1940s, is killed with scissors by her husband, Roman Strauss. During the investigation, Church turns to Franklin Madson, an antique dealer, for help. With the aid of hypnosis, they hope to uncover the truth.

“Blue Thunder” is a state-of-the-art helicopter equipped with cutting-edge technology. It was designed to reliably protect Los Angeles from terrorists. But pilot Murphy discovers something he really shouldn't have known.

Now the pilot must defend himself, and his only chance of survival is to expose the high-ranking conspirators and their henchmen.