Former cop turned private eye Max Mingus is hired by the wealthy Allan Carver to find his young son Charlie, who went missing on the island of Haiti three years before. But something terrifying is happening on the island - for previous detectives who went there to look for him have either returned as mental wrecks or not returned at all. A long line of children have disappeared in Haiti and on an island where voodoo dominates daily life, a local myth has grown up about a figure called Mr Clarinet who spirits the children away. But Max soon realises there is a far more real, and more shocking explanation...