After surviving the outbreak of a mysterious pathogen in the Amazon jungle, Keene is pulled into the harrowing mystery of a new, more malignant killer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She confronts a possibly sentient pathogen for the first time in her forensic biology career. She also discovers secrets in the old-growth forest that no one wants to know. To the CDC, Lotte's actions are insubordination. To the environmental activist Gabriel Fox, she is a complication. To America's elite intelligence apparatus, she's a threat to national security. To Longwood's Doctor Ben McCandle, she is a challenge to everything he thinks he knows about medical science. Suspicions about her motives mount. Calculating corporate powers grow more sinister. Dark operatives from Washington move against her work... and time is running out. Lotte Keene is about to rewrite the rules of biogenetic science and cross the thin red, white and blue lines between American principle and power. is the first standalone novel in a spellbinding series that is at once shadowed and luminous. If you like suspenseful and sharply written mysteries, you will love Lotte Keene and her courage, loyalty and indomitable spirit. Buy to start this unforgettable journey today.