FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE YELLOW BIRDS 'Entertaining, intelligent, and effortlessly readable' Sunday Times 'A stunning novel' New York Times 'One of the best crime novels of the year' Irish Times 'A cracking mystery' Guardian 'Tense and enthralling' Daily Mail 'Taut and enjoyable' Daily Telegraph 'A kickass mystery from a superb storyteller' David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man 'A spellbinding and totally original thriller' Philipp Meyer, author of The Son An early morning on a beach in Virginia. As he is taking his daily swim, Arman Bajalan - formerly an interpreter in Iraq - discovers a dead body. After surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US. Now, sure that the murder is connected to his past, he knows he's still not safe. Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her fresh-off-the-beat partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the man's pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local