Former war correspondent Peter Brandt’s childhood innocence died the day his older brother, Keith, died in Vietnam. Now, a quarter of a century later, Keith’s former fiancée, Rhonda White, comes back into Peter’s life with an incredible claim—Keith may still be alive.

Twenty-four hours later, police find Rhonda’s body floating in San Diego Bay. Is it murder or suicide?

Rhonda’s death and her claim about Peter’s brother set him on an investigation ranging from the beaches and foothills of Southern California to the mountains of Costa Rica. The deeper he digs, the more mysteries he finds: Marines who fought alongside Keith don’t remember how he died; a shady technology exporter bearing a doppelgänger resemblance to T.D., Keith’s best friend who also died in the same battle; a Navy investigator who covered up his probe of a major wartime black-market operation; and a Costa Rican cop who may more than he seems.

And then there are the big questions Peter isn’t sure he wants answered. Is Keith still alive? Did he desert the Marines and become part of the Vietnam underworld? And if he is still living, who did Peter’s family bury twenty-five years earlier?