In Du Brul's twist on history, the German zeppelin Hindenburg explodes in 1937, the result of sabotage aimed at silencing an academic on board. In the present day, the academic's secret from almost 70 years ago is about to be discovered by Philip Mercer, a geologist looking for a rare metal in Africa. There he meets a woman from the Centers for Disease Control investigating a village with the highest rate of cancer per capita in the world. The two stumble onto a terrifying conspiracy; terrorists will go to great lengths to achieve their goals with this secret. As in the best of Clive Cussler.

, the past here affects the future of the world, and a reluctant hero must dig deep to succeed. Du Brul (The Medusa Stone) cowrites the "Oregon Files" series with Cussler, and fans of that style of adventure will not be disappointed.