The Deep Zone: A Novel

Burned by her own government in a trumped-up scandal, brilliant microbiologist Hallie Leland swore she'd never return to the world of cutting-edge science and dangerous secrets. But a shocking summons from the White House changes all that. A mysterious epidemic is killing American soldiers in Afghanistan-and poised for outbreak in the United States and beyond. Without the ultra-rare organism needed to create an antidote, millions will die. Hallie knows more about "Moonmilk" than anyone-but it can be found only at the bottom of the deepest cave on Earth. To get there, she and her team of experts must brave a forbidding Mexican jungle crawling with drug cartels, federals, and murderous locals. And in the super cave await far greater terrors: flooded tunnels, acid lakes, bottomless chasms, mind-warping blackness-and a cunning assassin with orders to make the mission a journey of no return.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James M. Tabor's Frozen Solid and the short story "Lethal Expedition."