#1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER - "The perfect crime
scene ... in the type of wild but smart caper that Grisham's readers
love."--Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing*
*
Just as Bruce Cable's Bay Books is preparing for the return of
bestselling author Mercer Mann, Hurricane Leo veers from its predicted
course and heads straight for Camino Island. Florida's governor orders a
mandatory evacuation, and most residents board up their houses and flee
to the mainland, but Bruce decides to stay and ride out the storm.
The hurricane is devastating: Homes and condos are leveled, hotels and
storefronts ruined, streets flooded--and a dozen people lose their
lives. One of the apparent victims is Nelson Kerr, a friend of Bruce's
and an author of thrillers. But the nature of Nelson's injuries suggests
that the storm wasn't the cause of his death: He has suffered several
suspicious blows to the head.
Who would want Nelson dead? The local police are overwhelmed in the
aftermath of the storm and ill-equipped to handle the case. Bruce begins
to wonder if the shady characters in Nelson's novels might be more real
than fictional. And somewhere on Nelson's computer is the manuscript of
his new book. Could the key to the case be right there--in black and
white? As Bruce starts to investigate, what he discovers between the
lines is more shocking than any of Nelson's plot twists--and far more
dangerous.
