First published 2012
Grace Chu stares at the financial records spread across her hotel room desk in Shanghai. A Chinese national employed by an American construction firm has been snatched from the city streets in broad daylight. His security guard has also disappeared. Rutherford Risk, a company that specializes in hostage recovery, has sent Grace to follow the money trail. Her partner John Knox brings military training and cultural knowledge to their dangerous mission. Private investigation violates Chinese law, making their work extremely risky. Grace combines her American forensic accounting education with her Chinese military background to track the kidnappers' financial moves. Knox's aggressive methods repeatedly put them in harm's way. As Grace digs deeper into the money flows, she uncovers a web far more complex than a simple kidnapping. The true masterminds remain hidden while the clock runs down toward the kidnappers' deadline. Grace and Knox must navigate Shanghai's treacherous underworld to find both hostages before time expires. Their investigation forces them to question everything they thought they knew about the case.
Genres: adventure, suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, investigation
Setting: China, Shanghai
Period: 21st-century
420 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons