The novel takes place in 1997, six months before the events described in the first novel in the Killing Field series. Jack Reacher is still serving in the military police of the US Armed Forces - and receives a new assignment...

In the vicinity of the Marine Corps base in Mississippi, a brutal murder of a young beautiful girl occurred. Before her death, she was raped. The first suspicion of the local police immediately fell on one of the Marine soldiers. And the task Reacher received from his commander has one goal - to save the honor of the army, protect its heroic appearance from shame and find the killer among the civilians. But Jack physically cannot sacrifice the truth for a political solution. And in the end he faces a difficult choice. If things are carried out the way the army wants, will he then be able to get along with himself? And if you go against the truth, will the army be able to get along with him?..