Erin Neal is a brilliant scientist and philosopher who wrote a groundbreaking book about the environmental movement, but he's been living in seclusion since his girlfriend Jenna left him and died in a boating accident. He's built a self-sufficient compound in the middle of nowhere and spends his days conducting experiments with bacteria while lamenting Jenna's loss. His extended brood is interrupted one day, though, when Mark Beamon from the US government shows up, wanting him to check out a bacterial infestation at an oil well in Alaska. When the government also coerces Erin to check out an infestation in Saudi Arabia, Erin finds something disturbing. Though located on opposite sides of the world, the bacteria infecting both wells appears to be identical, and it's an awful lot like an experimental strain Erin had been working on shortly before Jenna's disappearance and death.

Just as Erin realizes Jenna isn't really dead, the government happens upon an old e-mail implicating Erin in the oil infestations. Erin isn't behind the problem, though; it's the rich and popular environmentalist Jenna left him for, the execution of whose rabid beliefs could cause the downfall of the modern world. The villain hasn't just infected a few oil wells in Alaska and Saudi Arabia, he has developed a new strain of the bacteria that could destroy the entire world's oil supply. Erin and Jenna, along with the government, have to track him down and put a stop to his plans before society is thrown into complete chaos from the destruction of the world's utmost energy source.

Villains these days are no longer megalomaniacs trying to take over the world, they're rabid environmentalists bent on destroying it. This isn't the first book with this type of villain, but it stands out because of its unique protagonist. It was impossible not to like Erin Neal and his sarcastic outlook on life, and I'm certainly a believer in his philosophies. The author shines a light on some of the hypocricies inherent in the environmental movement without siding with the opposition, making me wish I could read Erin Neal's controversial book for real. Other characters, like Jenna and Mark Beamon, created a nice foil for Erin and made the book a whole lot of fun. This is an adventure that scores high on all counts, and I will read more books by Kyle Mills.

I am a huge Mills and he did not disappoint with this book, it was a thriller from start to finish!