Sydney Rose Parnell

Sydney Rose Parnell is the main character and narrator of the novel. She is a railroad police special agent. She is the heroine but she is a flawed heroine because she carries a good deal of baggage not only from a traumatic childhood but also because of serving eight years working in the Marine Corps Mortuary Affairs in Iraq. Parnell blames herself and feels guilty for the things that she saw and did while in Iraq, a condition that her therapist calls a moral injury. Because she has gotten worse with a type of treatment called prolonged exposure, Parnell is leery of the possibility that therapy can help her heal emotionally from what she saw in Iraq. She has found alcohol the best way to numb her pain though she knows drinking is not an answer to her problems.

Parnell is particularly shaken when a bomb...