I drove away tired. Tired of the road rage guys, the bar fight guys. There's always more of them. History is about one thing, and has been ever since hunter clubbed gatherer and took his berries. Conquest.

It's always been about beating the other guys into submission. From the Greeks and Romans to mobs on a city street. Destroy and dominate.

The Spartans understood this better than anybody. From age seven the boys were trained to fight. It was fight or be conquered. There was no sitting it out. After a battle you came back with your shield, or on it.

I still had my shield.

The tragic suicide of a college student catapults Romeo into a web of deception unlike anything he's encountered before. Driven by an unshakable commitment to unearth the truth for a heartbroken Catholic mother, Romeo must navigate the enigmatic Roethke Spiritual Center-where self-realization, Norse mythology, and "bliss" form the core curriculum-and a seemingly tranquil small town that doesn't want to give up its secrets. Hovering over everything is the rush for "white gold"-lithium-raging along California's Salton Sea.

Running afoul of motorcycle-riding enforcers, a formidable energy magnate guarding an empire, and a sheriff hell-bent on locking him up, Romeo must find a way to satisfy justice-without losing his life in the process.

Another heart-pounding thriller in the International Thriller Writers Award-winning series.