“The conspiracy theorists claimed that a Nazi sub left Germany just before the fall of the Third Reich, carrying away the highest-ranking Nazis and the entire treasury, including priceless artifacts that had been looted and top-secret technology.”

Immediately, Riddle establishes the conspiratorial tone of his novel with tantalizing hints from the past. Conspiracies play upon the public’s love for secrets and hidden knowledge. This scene both introduces the mystery and lures the reader into it with a promise of whispered secrets.

“The research team had become her family, and the research participants her children.”

Early on, Riddle hints at the loss of Warner’s mother, the mysterious disappearance of her father, her adoption by Martin Grey, and a cryptic reference to a traumatic event in San Francisco. Riddle doles out his information sparingly, leaving hints like a trail of breadcrumbs. What he eventually reveals to be Warner’s haunted past—a miscarriage and an affair with Dorian Sloane who absconds the moment she becomes pregnant—justifies her maternal protectiveness for her test subjects, especially for the two kidnapped boys, Adi and Satya.

“What a mess. Find out if she has any money. If so, bring her to the station. If not, dump her at the hospital.”

Jakarta Police Chief Eddi Kusnadi is a corrupt cop. When he finds Warner unconscious on the floor of her lab, he violates basic procedural protocols without batting an eye. Instead of leaving the crime scene untarnished, he searches the victim for money to find out if she is worth extorting. Riddle plays upon Indonesia’s history of corruption dating back centuries, and that history—combined with some Western stereotypes—is embodied in the character of Kusnadi.