In some ways this was a lighter, more humorous adventure in the Kate Shugak series. Liam Campbell, star of another Stabenow series, crosses paths with Kate and asks to investigate the death of Finn Grant, an aviation mogul who died in suspicious plane crash. Kate gets involved and in the process uncovers an arms smuggling operation. During the course of the investigation, she's trapped in dumpster, locked into a chest freezer, and imprisoned inside a freight container in the hold of a fishing trawler. Her conversations with Jim via her "hated" cell phone are reminiscent of Stephanie Plum's conversations with Ranger or Morelli. This is one of the few Shugak novels where the Alaskan environment takes a complete backseat to the plot.