Things We Cannot Unsee

Pineiro’s high-octane sequel to 2020’s Highest Law finds NCIS agent Lawson Pacheco, who lost part of a leg while leading a Seal Team Six platoon years before, dealing with a horrifying murder case with a personal connection. Pacheco is part of the response team called to the Norfolk, Va., house of Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Casey, a former brother-in-arms. In the living room are the mutilated bodies of Casey, his wife, and their two teenage daughters. Only the oldest daughter, a high school senior, escaped the massacre, because she was away from home at the time. When investigators suggest that the crime was a murder-suicide carried out by Casey, Pacheco is appalled, as he believes his friend incapable of committing such atrocities. Instead, he suspects the carnage relates to Casey’s role as a whistleblower who implicated a Seal Team Six captain in war crimes committed in Syria while Pacheco served there. The violence extends beyond the Caseys, and Piniero doesn’t pull any punches as he expertly blends action and character. This complex, intelligent, and suspenseful thriller marks its author as a significant talent. (Self-published)