Crazed crocodiles at the Great Barrier Reef have transmitted to humans an aggressive and deadly pathogen, eerily resembling Mad Cow Disease, unleashing terror and a desperate attempt to find a cure before an apocalyptic pandemic ensues. A mysterious government official coerces a team of four reluctant specialists, strangers to each other, to identify a lethal prion and determine if its source is natural or engineered.

Dr. John Ostler is a veterinary surgeon with expertise in Mad Cow Disease; Dr. Nelly Fleury, a pathologist at Johns Hopkins (MD), works on rare infectious diseases; Dr. Alex King is a renowned neurologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital (NY); and Spencer Rose is a worldly special forces sergeant tasked with keeping the team on track and alive. Their perilous mission turns even deadlier when they realize at the outset that someone is hunting them. Under murky circumstances where no can be trusted, the four specialists must rely on each other and forge a collaborative bond.

In this ingenious, breakneck thriller, the team’s adventures span the globe-from Australia to Africa to the Galapagos Islands-as they race to restore a delicate balance in nature, before madness triumphs over science.