by Kathy Reichs
Part of Temperance Brennan, book 13
First published 2010
Dr. Temperance Brennan arrives at a drowning scene in Hemmingford, Quebec, where a man died during a sexual act. The victim is identified as John Lowery, an American soldier supposedly killed in a Vietnam helicopter crash in 1968. Brennan faces an impossible puzzle: how can someone die twice? She exhumes Lowery's original grave in North Carolina and travels to Hawaii with the remains. At JPAC headquarters, the military unit that recovers fallen soldiers, she works alongside Detective Andrew Ryan, her colleague and former lover. Her daughter joins them, still grieving her own recent loss. The investigation grows more complex when they discover a second set of remains bearing Lowery's dog tags. Three bodies, all carrying the same identity. Meanwhile, Honolulu medical examiner Hadley Perry asks Brennan to examine an adolescent boy found in offshore waters. The death might be a shark attack, but evidence suggests something far more sinister. As Brennan unravels the mystery connecting these cases, she uncovers a web of deception spanning decades.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation
Setting: Hawaii, Hemmingford, North Carolina, Quebec
Period: 1968, Vietnam War
306 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: death, violence