The Dark That Doesn’t Sleep

YA author Mockler (the Beatrix the Bold series) makes his adult debut with a superb closed-circle mystery that begins after two suspicious deaths in Greenland in 1967. New York City psychiatrist Jack Miller spends most of his days working with civilian patients, but he’s also a valued resource for the CIA who assesses its employees’ susceptibility to being blackmailed. After a tragedy, he’s called to the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va.: the U.S. Army has been maintaining a secret military base under Greenland’s ice sheet that houses missiles capable of reaching the Soviet Union, but the regular shifting of the ice makes the base’s tunnels unstable. A recent collapse trapped three men inside, and a subsequent fire killed two of them. The sole survivor, Pvt. Connor Murphy, is shipped stateside to treat his burns, and Miller is tasked with questioning the soldier about what happened, an investigation that’s complicated after Miller learns that one of the three men—Murphy included—may have been a Soviet spy. As he digs deeper, Miller unravels one sinister truth after another. Mockler maintains a high level of tension throughout—readers will rip through pages to get to the bottom of Miller’s reasoning. Admirers of golden age whodunits will be enthralled. (June)