Shadowmakers — Ralph Wetterhahn

This thriller by a distinguished military writer vividly brings to life the search for the truth about Vietnam War POWs, an unresolved national tragedy. When Major Will Cadence, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, visits his father's grave, he is approached by a woman with photographs of Will's father, taken years after he supposedly died in a POW camp. As doubts emerge about his father's fate, Will visits Senator Hank Dalton, a former POW, shot down with Will's father. Dalton, in the closing days of a tight run for the presidency, helps Will get assigned to investigate missing-in-action reports, a new posting that brings him alongside forensic anthropologist Dr. Gabrielle DeJean. A covert attempt on Will's life convinces them that they have stumbled onto a massive cover-up, leading to a dangerous quest from Honolulu to Laos, Moscow, and the frozen Ukraine, where the truth about American POWs finally begins to dawn. Will and DeJean discover a powerful element in the U.S. government doesn't want the truth disclosed, though the fate of the former Soviet Union's ICBM launchers, and lethal chemical and biological stockpiles, hang in the balance. In a high-altitude chase that features thrilling aerobatic maneuvers, the climax of this exciting novel will leave readers' hearts pounding.