Part of Alan Gregory, book 17
First published 2009
Sam Purdy, a suspended Boulder police detective, arrives in New Haven when Yale students disappear during what should have been a peaceful weekend. Among the missing are the sons of the Secretary of the Army and a Supreme Court justice. The FBI and CIA descend on campus as attention turns to a windowless stone tomb belonging to one of Yale's secret societies. Purdy teams up with FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deirdre Drake to uncover what happens inside the fortress-like building. The enemy refuses all communication with negotiators and anticipates every FBI move. No demands come. No escape plan emerges. Instead, students begin emerging from the front door only to die moments later. Time runs short as Purdy and his federal partners race to solve a puzzle where the rules make no sense and the stakes climb with each passing hour.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, race-against-time
Setting: Boulder, New Haven, Yale
Period: Contemporary
394 pages · Hardcover · E P Dutton