Publisher Description
Tasked with covering up a tabloid report about high-ranking officers, US Army CID Agents George Sueño and Ernie Bascom discover a dark web of systemic issues that have potentially fatal consequences.
South Korea, 1970s: Sergeant First Class Cecil B. Harvey, a senior NCO in charge of 8th Army’s classified documents, has long been a friend (willing or unwilling) to Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom. So when he goes missing with a top-secret document that even a glance at could get an officer court-martialed, Sueño and Bascom take it upon themselves to find him.
Meanwhile, Overseas Observer reporter Katie Byrd Worthington is back to make life difficult for top Army brass. When she lands in a Korean jail cell, Sueño and Bascom are sent to get her out—and negotiate against the publication of an incriminating story about the mistreatment of women in the military that could land important officials in hot water. But what they learn will make it hard for them to stay silent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Limón's superior 15th novel featuring U.S. Army investigators George Sueño and Ernie Bascom in 1970s South Korea (after 2019's GI Confidential), the partners, who prioritize justice over protocol, have two major problems to resolve. When Sgt. First Class Cecil Harvey, the gatekeeper of classified information for 8th Army Headquarters near Seoul, goes AWOL, the detectives are concerned. They've had their differences with the missing man, but he has provided them with gossip and leads over the years. Their anxiety increases after learning Harvey was supposedly secretly listening to North Korean radio propaganda in the company of a defector from that country. The search for his whereabouts overlaps with a directive to help censor the reporting of Katie Byrd Worthington, a civilian tabloid journalist. Worthington has gotten some embarrassing photos of the 8th Army's chief of staff, but Sueño and Bascom discover she's really been focused on exposing the sexual abuse of members of a female army unit. The absence of a murder mystery doesn't lessen the tension, and Limón evokes the setting with his usual skill. This long-running series remains as strong as ever.
