Part of Amos Decker, book 6
First published 2020
Amos Decker arrives in London, North Dakota with his FBI partner Alex Jamison to investigate a brutal killing. The oil fracking boom has transformed this small town into a chaotic frontier where fortunes are made overnight and dangers multiply daily. Someone has murdered Irene Cramer, a young woman living two separate lives. By day she taught children for a local religious group. By night she worked the streets as a prostitute. Her killer performed an expert autopsy on her body before dumping it in the open. Decker uses his perfect memory to piece together the victim's double existence while navigating a community filled with ruthless oil executives, corrupt officials, and secretive religious outsiders. The religious sect operates on land previously owned by a mysterious government facility that casts a shadow over the entire town. As more bodies appear, Decker realizes the murders connect to deeper conspiracies involving the boom's major players. He must identify the killer before the volatile mix of greed, secrets, and violence tears the boomtown apart.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family, investigative-journalism
Setting: London, North Dakota
Period: 21st-century
422 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: murder, violence