THIS STORY OPENS ON SANTA CATALINA ISLAND IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Senior Detective Matais O'Brien of the Oceanside Police Department and his fiancée, Sophie Perez, a forensic pathologist in North San Diego County, are enjoying the first night of a long-overdue vacation. Matt has reserved a front-row table at Steve's Steakhouse, the island's premier steakhouse, which, from its second-story location, offers a panoramic view of Avalon Harbor. It's the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, and the restaurant is packed. The evening is balmy, and the crescent moon, in Sophie's view, hopefully foretells a time for healing, rest, and make-up sex. Matt has just returned from Los Angeles after helping the FBI solve a child kidnapping case in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles. After dinner, the two cross the boardwalk onto the beach, hand in hand. The calm water's edge is ideal for toe-dipping for two. What could be more romantic, muses Sophie until she spots a dead body on the beach. Over the next 72 hours, murder, espionage, and a major ransomware attack begin to unfold. The wheels of both justice and crime, spanning Moscow, Brighton Beach in New York, Washington, DC, and Southern California, begin to turn. None of the crime is what it seems, and none of the villains behave as you would expect.