None delivers "flesh-and-blood characters, crackling dialogue and lean, suspenseful plotting"* the way Iris Johansen did in The Ugly Duckling and Long After Midnight. And readers have responded -- to the tune of a combined 1.5 million copies in print and eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, with much more to come when the paperback of Long After Midnight hits the shelves. Now this blockbuster author takes readers on a riveting new journey to a harrowing confrontation in a most unlikely killing ground.

When photojournalist Bess Grady arrives in Tenajo, Mexico, for a well-deserved vacation, the scene that greets her comes straight from hell. Everyone in the small town is dead, and soldiers in decontamination suits are swarming all over the plaza. Bess soon realizes that she is witness to a nightmarish secret experiment staged by vicious terrorists. Now they're after her, but Bess will do whatever it takes to stop the terrorists from continuing their experiments and achieving their frightening goal -- the perfection of the ultimate deadly weapon.