âMany and wondrous are the charms of this witty, suspenseful, and enchanting book.â âThe Wall Street Journal
The discovery of a suspicious death at a famous Swiss physics laboratory sparks a mystery that merges science, philosophy, and the high-stakes race to unlock the fundamental nature of our universe in this thrilling new novel from the Edgar Awardânominated author of the âhugely entertainingâ (The Wall Street Journal) The Last Equation of Isaac Severy.
Deep beneath the ground outside of Geneva, where CERNâs Large Hadron Collider smashes subatomic particles at breathtaking speeds, a startling discovery is made when the tunnel is down for maintenance: the body of Howard Anderby, a brilliant and recently arrived young physicist, who appears to have been irradiated by the collider. But security shows no evidence of him entering the tunnel, and for all of the labâs funding, its video surveillance is sorely lacking.
Eager to keep the death under wraps until more is known, CERN brings in private investigator Sabine Leroux, who has her own ties to the labâs administrationâand more than a passing interest in particle physics. Meanwhile, Howardâs colleague and budding love interest Eve, shattered by his death, determines to reconcile what she knew of Howard with his gruesome fate, wondering if she could have done something to stop it.
As Sabine digs into petty academic rivalries and personal secrets, an escalating international physics arms race heightens tensions and fuels speculation of a mole at the labâthrowing into question loyalties and revealing what sort of knowledge may be worth killing for.