The last, large parcel of ocean-front real estate on Amelia Island represents a vast fortune for the three siblings who inherit ownership rights to it—a trust that requires the assent of all three as a condition of its sale. One of them, Derek, the youngest, has made a deathbed promise to his father never to trade away the family’s generations-old legacy and ties to the land, known as Bitter End. His older brother and sister, however, have very different visions of the land’s value—not just as immediate solutions to pressing financial needs but as the source of substantial long-term wealth. 

The dispute simmers until Derek goes missing under suspicious circumstances. When his body turns up in a shallow grave, it sets off shock waves that reverberate from Amelia Island to Washington D.C., from Moscow to the Cayman Islands. Shadowy figures operate in the murky fringes of the international banking system and thrive in a part of the world where life is cheap. Derek’s murder is only the first installment in a fearful price the family pays for their dysfunction.