First published 1991
A young woman's body washes ashore on a tiny, isolated Pacific island. The local police chief scrambles to uncover the truth, but the island's eccentric inhabitants prove evasive. As he peels back the layers of deception, a complex web of secrets and betrayal emerges, with the islanders guarding their privacy at all costs. In a climactic showdown, the shocking truth about the woman's fate is finally revealed, leaving the chief grappling with the moral weight of justice on this remote, untamed land.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-ambiguity, unreliable-narrator
Setting: San Francisco, California, Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands
752 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company