Aaron Wyler's career as a detective with the NYPD's elite Counterterrorism Bureau ended abruptly a year ago when his wife Jessica, a renowned pediatric oncologist, unexpectedly committed suicide, leaving his life shattered and his 11-year-old son, Gabe, severely traumatized. Retired from the force at 42, Wyler now spends his days struggling to reach his estranged son, while also wrestling with his own unresolved feelings of grief, guilt, and anger. As a grudging favor to a friend, Wyler agrees to meet with Sarah Lisonbee, whose brother, Peter Lisonbee, a young, successful Manhattan chef, recently fell to his death from the balcony of his Greenwich Village apartment. All evidence points to suicide, and Wyler's former colleagues in the NYPD have closed the case. But Sarah is convinced her brother's death is somehow linked to a family secret involving an ancient religious artifact - a gemstone that has been passed down in her family since Richard the Lionheart's crusade to the Holy Land almost a thousand years ago. Looking for a distraction from his own buried emotional and psychological pain, Wyler agrees to investigate. After a second murder, he stumbles upon a shocking conspiracy involving some of the world's most powerful and influential people. In this first book in the Aaron Wyler detective series, Wyler is forced to confront dark forces he doesn't fully understand, including his own inner demons, in order to unravel a thrilling mystery from one of history's hidden footnotes.
Aaron Wyler's career as a detective with the NYPD's elite Counterterrorism Bureau ended abruptly a year ago when his wife Jessica, a renowned pediatric oncologist, unexpectedly committed suicide, leaving his life shattered and his 11-year-old son, Gabe, severely traumatized. Retired from the force at 42, Wyler now spends his days struggling to reach his estranged son, while also wrestling with his own unresolved feelings of grief, guilt, and anger. As a grudging favor to a friend, Wyler agrees to meet with Sarah Lisonbee, whose brother, Peter Lisonbee, a young, successful Manhattan chef, recently fell to his death from the balcony of his Greenwich Village apartment. All evidence points to suicide, and Wyler's former colleagues in the NYPD have closed the case. But Sarah is convinced her brother's death is somehow linked to a family secret involving an ancient religious artifact - a gemstone that has been passed down in her family since Richard the Lionheart's crusade to the Holy Land almost a thousand years ago. Looking for a distraction from his own buried emotional and psychological pain, Wyler agrees to investigate. After a second murder, he stumbles upon a shocking conspiracy involving some of the world's most powerful and influential people. In this first book in the Aaron Wyler detective series, Wyler is forced to confront dark forces he doesn't fully understand, including his own inner demons, in order to unravel a thrilling mystery from one of history's hidden footnotes.