ECHOES OF THE DEAD

The disappearances of a California congressman and three of his college buddies cue another manhunt for Magnus "Steps" Craig, the nonpareil agent of the FBI’s Special Tracking Unit.

Marco Perez was a successful oncologist before the citizens of Bakersfield elected him to Congress. Wade Winchell, the Major Crimes deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, has tangled with Mexican drug lords. Jason Norris is a well-heeled accountant; and hedge fund manager Noah Long’s wealth leaves Norris in the dust. So they’ve all acquired scads of enemies along the way, and it’s anyone’s guess why they vanished from their annual fishing trip on the Upper Kern River or who the kidnapper’s primary target was. As usual, though, Steps, who can see the shine that identifies the unique aura of every human being, and his more earthbound partner, Jimmy Donovan, are confronted by crime scenes far more arresting than the humdrum details of the criminal’s motive or identity. Norris is seemingly discovered propped up on a park bench—except that the corpse in his clothing isn’t his but that of a man a generation older than him, the killer having snatched the corpse from its recent grave and substituted Norris’ still-living body. A Polaroid photo in the dead man’s pocket identifies the likely next victim as Winchell and suggests that the clock is ticking before his time is up. An episode that interjects human smuggler Abel Moya into the mix dramatizes the killer’s sadistic sense of humor. The killings are so ghoulish, in fact, that the final confrontation comes as a distinct and probably inevitable anticlimax.

The most conventional of the gifted hero’s four cases still has plenty to keep fans glued to their seats.