From the author of the bestselling Burke novels, the sequel to Aftershock: the second installment of his thrilling new series in which Dell, an ex-mercenary, and Dolly, a former battlefield nurse, lead us deep into the ugly underbelly of a seemingly idyllic Pacific Northwest coastal town.
Just before daybreak, a body washes up on a pristine beach. The dead man's skull has been bashed open, and his upper body is covered in neo-Nazi tattoos. An anonymous photographer emails an image of the scene to the local news, spurring the police to instantaneous response. Searching for suspects at one of the town's "homeless-by-choice" encampments, the cops pick up Homer, a "walking wounded" schizophrenic, who has been showing off a wristwatch he says God gave him. The watch is engraved with a symbol that exactly matches one of the dead man's tattoos. Even though Homer could never have inflicted such damage on a man twice his weight and half his age, he is immediately arrested—tourism could suffer if a killer was known to be at large. Dolly's friend Mack, the director and sole employee of the area's mental-health outreach program, is outraged but helpless. Dolly is outraged, too, but with connections like Dell, she is anything but helpless. As the search for the real killer pulls them deeper into the world of hate-groups, Dell must share some of his "Dark Arts" knowledge with Mack. Together they make a shocking discovery just beneath the surface of this seemingly sublime little town.
With this latest installment in his new Aftershock series, Andrew Vachss reminds us once again—in his inimitable, visceral prose—that for some, peace comes at a very high price.
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