FRACTAL

A former anesthesiologist searches for a missing investigator in Rajagopal’s mystery/thriller, one in a series.

Still coming to grips with her husband’s murder after two years have passed, Samantha “Sam” Arnsson attempts to begin a new chapter of her life in Dallas with her son, “little Vic,” and Quincy “Quin” Duncan, a new love interest. A data analyst for one of the government’s “alphabet soups of various security agencies,” Sam asks her brother-in-law, Jick (an amateur sleuth with experience investigating crimes), for help with a missing person case in Hawaii. A Honolulu-based investigator named Alicia Kehaulani Rogers disappeared almost eight months earlier while investigating a wealthy businessman, George Sturgis, who may or may not be involved in research involving the cloning of humans. Sam believes the probability of the investigator dying from an accident to be high and assumes that sending Jick to the Big Island will be a relatively easy—and safe—assignment. But following the investigator’s trail leads Jick into a tangled web of seemingly contradictory information and rumors. Sturgis suffered a traumatic brain injury while scuba diving and hasn’t been the same since the accident; he also may have been involved in a plan for him and his wife to have a child through a surrogate decades ago in Greece. Alicia was last seen near a hundred-acre parcel of land owned by Sturgis, a remote stretch of forest that Sturgis’ reclusive adult son calls his “playground.” Before Jick realizes, he’s entangled in a grand-scale conspiracy that spans decades and involves numerous murders and more than a few psychopaths.

Rajagopal’s third outing to feature former anesthesiologist Dr. Jayant “Jick” Arnsson (after 2023’s Rubato) is an utterly readable and impressively original fusion of amateur sleuth mystery, mainstream thriller, and speculative SF. The brilliance of this novel—and series—is in this blend of genre elements. The sheer unpredictability is glorious; buffeted by jaw-dropping revelations and bombshell plot twists, readers will be kept on the edges of their proverbial seats until the very last pages. The author’s use of multiple plot threads and nonlinear timelines makes Jick’s investigation even more complex and intriguing. Rajagopal’s writing style is immersive, with rich descriptions that place the reader fully in the narrative, living vicariously through the characters. In one scene, Jick experiences the breathtaking beauty of Hawaii: “Colorful orchids grew out of niches formed in the rock wall. A shoulder of vibrant emerald-green grass flanked either side of the road, its texture so smooth it could have doubled as a putting green. A ribbon of impossibly colorful ground orchids studded natural crevices in the lava rock where the grass met the lava field. Palm trees lined either side of the road; between the palms, alternating red and white bougainvillea bushes waved like pom-poms.” The natural beauty of the setting is balanced by the story’s dark undertones and unapologetically violent sequences, which are startling and more than a little disturbing: “he ambled into view carrying two decapitated heads like trophies.”

Virtually unputdownable, a stay-up-all-night-until-your-eyes-blur kind of read.