Jack Bodwell, an energetic out-of-work young writer, follows up on an ad that seeks high-paid volunteers for clinical trials. He interviews and is signed up for a thirty-day period at the Doctor's remote brain research clinic.

Jack becomes suspicious of what the doctor's tests may be doing to the volunteer patients, but he has no proof. He and a bright young nurse, Claire Montieri, who believes in the Doctor's work, search for the truth. Their quest ultimately puts them in grave personal danger.

Brainwave is a tightly conceived mystery of misdirected medical zeal and murder, with bizarre twists and unexpected romance. Is the neurosurgeon a brilliant scientist or a demented doctor?