The Empty Chair (Lincoln Rhyme #3) by Jeffery Deaver

When criminalist Lincoln Rhyme travels to a world-famous spinal cord injuries centre in North Carolina for some experimental surgery, he hopes that the operation will give him slightly more movement.   He knows that it may kill him.

But before he has a chance to undergo surgery, Rhyme and his assistant Amelia are drafted in by the local police department to use their forensic skills to help find two women kidnapped by a psychotic young man known locally as the Insect Boy. A cat and mouse game through the abandoned swamps of North Carolina is to have more devastating consequences than either Lincoln or Amelia can anticipate.