The brutal murders of two young women in the caves along the Mississippi River pull St. Paul Homicide Detective John Santana into a case with all the telltale signs of a serial killer. Except that one of the victims doesn’t fit. Santana’s search for answers unearths connections between the first victim, an NTSB accident investigator, and the crash of an airliner off the California coast. He soon finds himself embroiled in a complex investigation that takes him from St. Paul, Minnesota to Washington DC and ultimately to Colombia in a race to thwart a dangerous technology that could cause a global economic meltdown. In a case fraught with internal and external politics, Santana must speak for the dead, while trying to finally make peace with the past. " In Valen's solid seventh novel featuring St. Paul homicide detective John Santana (after 2015's The Darkness Hunter) , Santana looks into the stabbing murder of Kim Austin, an accident investigator for the National Transportation Board, whose body was found buried in a cave along the Mississippi River . . . She had been part of a team examining the crash of an airliner off the coast of California that killed 217 people two months before the conference . . . The trail eventually takes the dogged detective to Colombia, where he confronts el Lobo , a contract killer, in a dramatic showdown . . . " --Publisher's Weekly Reviewed on 08/18/2017 ". . . Christopher Valen has clearly done his research into police investigations, corporate espionage, vehicular and phone hacking and other complex subjects . . . Side characters were well-drawn; Reyna Tran in particular was absolutely fascinating . . . Likewise, the plot was thoroughly engrossing . . . I genuinely had no idea who the killer was right up until the reveal . . . I would highly recommend Speak For The Dead to fans of James Patterson, John Grisham, and other top legal and crime thrillers; readers who enjoy these great authors will not be disappointed." --Caitlyn Lynch, Reader's Favorite " . . . Valen slips in a lot of red herrings that keep the reader guessing. In the middle of the plot is beautiful, flirty, Reyna Tran, one of the most intriguing characters to walk onto a page in awhile. Is she friend or foe, would-be lover or killer? She's unreadable and that makes a lot of fun for readers. Almost as chilling as the murders in Speak For The Dead is what Santana learns about the terrors of spoofing, a way for bad guys to hack into and take over phones, airplane navigation systems and other devices. You'll start to look at your cellphone in a new way. As usual, Valen conveys a sense of place, from the damp chill of the river caves to the beauty of nature along the St. Croix River." --MaryAnn Grossmann, St. Paul Pioneer Press Christopher Valen is the award-winning author of seven police procedurals featuring Colombian-born, St. Paul Homicide Detective John Santana, White Tombs , The Black Minute , Bad Weeds Never Die , Bone Shadows , Death’s Way , The Darkness Hunter , and Speak For The Dead . He is also the author of the literary novel All The Fields. Christopher resides in Minnesota and Arizona with his Colombian-born wife, Martha.