When PI Nick Heller moves back to Boston to set up his own agency, he soon gets a call to take on an urgent case even closer to home than expected. Alexandra Marcus – teenage daughter of hedge fund titan Marshall Marcus, a close friend – has been kidnapped. But it’s no ordinary kidnapping – and it’s not even clear what the kidnapper wants. Alexa has been abducted by professionals and buried alive in an underground casket. A video camera is streaming her desperate pleas for help live over the internet. With only a limited supply of food and water, her time is quickly running out. As a friend of the family, Nick is more determined than ever to catch the people behind the kidnapping.
But when Marshall is arrested for fraud, Nick uncovers some powerful enemies and a conspiracy that reaches up to the very highest levels of government.
The search soon leads into an expanding world of "buried secrets" - from Marshall's gold-digging trophy wife, Belinda, and his crumbling investment empire to allegations of government funding for covert operations and the Russian mafia.
Faced with opponents well-protected by wealth and position, Nick has to play a dangerous game if he hopes to flush out those responsible before Alexa is buried for good.
The plot is pretty gripping, and there is a brief introduction before Alexa is kidnapped and buried alive. Her story, narrated in the third person, works well here – as reading the descriptions of both what is happening to her and what her kidnapper is doing lends itself to the narration. Some of the passages describing her situation are challenging to read, as it really feels tense and claustrophobic.
The plot is well developed, and Nick has to uncover layer upon layer of lies and coverups to reach the truth.
Occasionally, readers will need to suspend belief but that doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the book. Once you start reading the book, you will find it hard to put it down until you’ve come to the last page.
