Part of Quinn & Costa
First published 2022
On a summer evening in the San Juan Islands, a charter boat leaves Friday Harbor and never comes back. A bomb tears through the vessel at the height of tourist season, killing everyone aboard. It is the deadliest act of mass murder the islands have ever seen. FBI special agent Matt Costa and detective Kara Quinn arrive to lead the investigation. The most obvious target is West End Charter, a company already under fire for a fuel leak that wiped out a local fish population. But the deeper Costa and Quinn dig, the more they find that almost anyone on that boat could have been the intended victim. They are working against a clock they cannot see. Whoever planted the device has not stopped. The team has to untangle a web of grievances, grudges, and secrets before the bomber picks another target. The San Juan Islands feel small and exposed, and the summer crowds are still there. In Allison Brennan's thriller, the pressure is not just procedural. It is personal. Costa and Quinn are chasing someone who has already proven they will kill without hesitation, and the next strike may come before the investigation catches up.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, adult-fiction, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, gritty, high-stakes, suspenseful
Tropes: hidden-motives, multiple-suspects, race-against-time
Setting: San Juan Islands, Friday Harbor
Period: summer
576 pages · Paperback · MIRA
Content warnings: death, murder, violence