Television anchor Lacie Wagner submits to more gruesome thrills in this sensationalistic sequel to Burnout
(1999). On the Nantucket beach where Lacie schedules her exercise runs from her vacation home, a "strange water warrior" Jane Doe washes up, contrary to the likely action of wind and current. The body is oddly marked with lacerations and burns, adorned with diamond earrings and also wearing military-grade diving equipment—yet the local and national military establishments deny knowledge of her. Lacie uses this story for her comeback to national news after medical leave (due to action in Burnout) and in the course of her investigation collects a circle of new people: muscular Tom Wheeler, the Nantucket medical examiner; aggressive Assistant DA Hinks; cranky Boston medical examiner Miles McKenzie; and eventually, through McKenzie's contacts, the cartoonishly superlative investigator Nick St. James. The stereotypes and coincidences pile up until Lacie is sure she has been targeted for a weird scheme of torture; the mysterious manipulator behind the scenes feeds her hints about other missing women and sets her up to publicize his macabre trophies as hard news. Disturbing physiological effects, dubious technical gadget descriptions and the preponderance of beautiful, lush-chested women with powerful jobs stalked and tortured by ambiguous handsome men make this work a touch more lurid than Patricia Cornwell's or Linda Fairstein's. (July 2)
