Colonel Stephen Englehart is a great medical examiner, which in the bureaucratic backwardness of the U.S. Army means he’ll be promoted any day now to paper pusher. No, thank you. Besides, he has an ambivalent attitude toward the whole organization, given that his soldier father was mostly absent and the “uncle” who took over—his father’s fellow soldier who is now one of Stephen’s superiors—is chilly at best. Retirement is beckoning, but his plans are exploded by five corpses arriving at his base. Don’t autopsy them, comes the order. Just hold them until their storm-damaged plane is repaired. That’s weird enough, but then one of the dead seems to have been untouched by the grenade he was supposed to have been killed by, and a medical examiner’s worst nightmare comes true: the man opens his eyes. At the same time, Stephen’s sister, Major Sharon Englehart, is arriving in Germany, where Stephen is based, and the two will try to steal some time to meet…but she never arrives at her post. The secrets, lies, and fearsome technology behind this fast-moving, exciting novel will keep readers turning the pages as they also enjoy the sibling loyalty and Stephen’s sidestepping of military rules—including his affair with a subordinate. This is a great step into military and technothrillers for fans of Patricia Cornwell and other forensic crime authors, and an equally perfect introduction to more relationship-based novels for military fiction buffs.
