It may seem like a spoiler to say from the start that Hoffman believes Michael Rockefeller, member of that grand family, was murdered and eaten. But that's really what is described in the first chapter, so it's not giving away the ending of the book. Instead, this book reads a lot like a Columbo episode. For those who don't know Columbo (consistently ranked as one of TVs greatest shows and detectives), those shows started off with the audience viewing the crime as it happened. Columbo shows up and has to piece together the evidence to solve the crime that we already know happened.

This book starts off revealing the "crime" in the same way, and spends the rest of the book trying to piece together the evidence for it. Briefly, Michael Rockefeller was touring remote islands as a young man, looking for rare pieces of art for his family's new art museum. He and another young friend go out in heavy oceans and their boat capsizes. Their two young native guides swim for help right away while Michael and his companion drift for several hours. Eventually, Michael decides to swim for it. He's never seen again. The official cause of death is drowning (with an off chance of being eaten by sharks).