Racing to uncover the mystery of several light green-shoe-clad severed feet found floating in the Atlantic, Agent Pendergast is faced with most inexplicable challenge of his career in this installment of the #1 NYT bestselling series.

A STARTLING CRIME WITH DOZENS OF VICTIMS.

Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach—each one with a crudely severed human foot inside.

A GHASTLY ENIGMA WITH NO APPARENT SOLUTION.

Called away from vacation elsewhere in the state, Agent Pendergast reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene—and, despite himself, is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: are the victims still alive?

A WORTHY CHALLENGE FOR A BRILLIANT MIND.

In short order, Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who—in a cruel irony—ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research.

12/23/2019

When more than a hundred shoes containing severed human feet wash ashore on Florida’s Sanibel Island in Preston and Child’s exciting 19th Pendergast novel (after 2018’s Verses for the Dead), eccentric FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, who’s vacationing in nearby Fort Myers with his ward, Constance Greene, joins the investigation. The arrogant Coast Guard commander in charge is sure the shoes belong to convicts executed at a Cuban prison, but Pendergast thinks otherwise and enlists the aid of oceanographer Pamela Gladstone to analyze currents in the Gulf of Mexico to determine their source. The stakes rise as it becomes clear that a mole within the investigation is tipping off those responsible for the crime. Pendergast and Gladstone wind up captured by some nasty villains, and a handful of Pendergast’s friends, including the resourceful Constance, must rush to the rescue in an extended, nail-biting climax. After a string of so-so entries in this bestselling series, Preston and Child have returned to the quality storytelling they’re known for. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Feb.)

The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child "stand head and shoulders above their rivals" ( Publishers Weekly). Preston & Child's Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include Verses for the Dead, City of Endless Night, The Obsidian Chamber, and Blue Labyrinth. In addition to his novels and nonfiction works (such as The Lost City of the Monkey God), Preston writes about archaeology for the The New Yorker and National Geographics magazines. Lincoln Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published seven novels of his own, including such bestsellers as, Full Wolf Moon and Deep Storm.

Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly "strangely entertaining" newsletter from the authors, at their website, PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their Facebook page, where they post regularly.