When a John Doe with a bayonet wound in his chest is discovered in a Washington, D.C., alley, geneticist Dr. Alexandra Blake of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology is pulled away from her bioterrorism work to aid in the investigation. Just a little digging reveals a corpse that’s nothing like the homeless robbery victim it was set up to resemble—and Alex and her colleagues find themselves wrapped up in a complicated mystery of high-stakes international financial intrigue.

“Jaw-dropping plot twists.”—Chicago Tribune*

The homicide investigation is just heating up when a political firestorm erupts over the AFIP’s possession of human skulls brought back from Vietnam thirty years earlier by American servicemen. Alex is handed the delicate task of managing the restoration and return of these grisly souvenirs. But the skulls take on urgent significance when she uncovers evidence of a much bigger crime…and suddenly Alex discovers she’s a target—and the White House itself is under fire.

“Explosive.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From Lori Andrews—a “quickly rising luminary in the thriller/medical sleuth universe”*—comes an exciting tour-de-force that combines the intricate details of forensic science with the dark side of Washington politics.

When a John Doe with a bayonet wound in his chest is discovered in a Washington, D.C., alley, geneticist Dr. Alexandra Blake of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology is pulled away from her bioterrorism work to aid in the investigation. Just a little digging reveals a corpse that’s nothing like the homeless robbery victim it was set up to resemble—and Alex and her colleagues find themselves wrapped up in a complicated mystery of high-stakes international financial intrigue.

“Jaw-dropping plot twists.”—Chicago Tribune*

The homicide investigation is just heating up when a political firestorm erupts over the AFIP’s possession of human skulls brought back from Vietnam thirty years earlier by American servicemen. Alex is handed the delicate task of managing the restoration and return of these grisly souvenirs. But the skulls take on urgent significance when she uncovers evidence of a much bigger crime…and suddenly Alex discovers she’s a target—and the White House itself is under fire.

“Explosive.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)