"In that scented, touch-filled Pipeworld, where notes speak clear as words, where connections are thick and countless, I felt the chaining up and circling together of other traces in my headAnd as the Pipe amplified all sounds and souls, including mine, I heard my mind echoing: the mission is dead. No rat-kill, no reward, no liberation. No home, no Hofmanns, no Klara. It was all an illusion."

The Rats of Hamelin blends history and fantasy to reshape the hazy legend of the pied piper. After six years as a piper's apprentice, Hannes sets out on the mission that will make him a master in the guild. His orders seem simple enough: rid Hamelin of a plague of rats and use the reward money for a charitable cause. Simple indeed, until he discovers that the real rats of Hamelin aren't the ones scurrying underfoot. Unsure who to count among his friends - the mayor's beautiful daughter? a generous businessman? a precocious little girl? - Hannes struggles against deadly enemies and thoughtless allies.