A Student of Living Things

In the Washington, D.C., of a near future, a city of floods and frequent terrorist bombings, the tightly knit Frayn family has carved out its own comfortable, if eccentric, existence. Then, in the moment it takes Claire Frayn to dig into her book bag for her umbrella, her brother Steven is shot down next to her on the library steps.

His murder hits the family like a hurricane. Set adrift, Claire easily falls under the influence of Victor Duarte, an enigmatic stranger who claims to know her brother's killer. But as she corresponds with the supposed criminal mastermind, a composer at a conservatory in Michigan, she finds herself increasingly apprehensive about Victor and his plans for revenge, while she is ever more drawn to the musician.