V dalekoi tropicheskoi strane na vershine pribrezhnoi skaly stoit dom. V etom dome obitaet Bog. A pod skaloi v more â€" diavol. Morskoi diavol. Tak suevernye rybaki nazyvaiut Ikhtiandra â€" polucheloveka-polurybu, sozdannogo rukami genialnogo khirurga professora Salvatora, kotoryi, podobno Bogu, ispravliaet oshibki prirody. Nekogda spasennyi im ot neminuemoi smerti Ikhtiandr schastliv v otkrytom more, no na sushe ego zhdut surovye ispytaniia… U khirurga Kerna talantlivye ruki. On mozhet vozvrashchat zhizn dazhe otdelnym chelovecheskim organam i mog by prinesti nemalo polzy dlia meditciny. Ved blagodaria peresadke organov mozhno spasti mnozhestvo chelovecheskikh zhiznei. Vot tolko Kerna eto volnuet menshe vsego. Emu khochetsia slavy i deneg, i radi nikh on gotov dazhe na prestuplenie. Smozhet li neschastnyi professor Douel, golovu kotorogo Kern ozhivil v svoikh korystnykh tceliakh, s pomoshchiu druzei ostanovit alchnogo negodiaia? Romany Aleksandra Beliaeva po pravu vkhodiat v zolotoi fond sovetskoi nauchnoi fantastiki.