Devil's Gold »

Julie Korzenko is a personal-injury paralegal for a boutique law firm. She lives near Atlanta.

Chastised for not cooperating with the oil company giant New World Petroleum, zoologist Cassidy Lowell is reassigned from the jungles of the Niger Delta to Yellowstone National Park, where wolves are disappearing. Jake Anderson, Special Forces operative, is working within the shadows of Cassidy's organization, Zoological Environmental Bio Research Agency. His mission? To determine the threatening connection between ZEBRA and NWP.

An alarming genetic mutation of the parvovirus is discovered: CPV-19: human parvovirus merged with canine. And the virus is loose in Yellowstone. Murder, execution, and deadly helicopter rides lead Jake and Cassidy down a road rife with double-crossing and an underlying plot that forces them back to the Niger Delta and into the heart of NWP.

This is the twenty-first-century gold rush--welcome to the dark side!

Publishers Weekly

Korzenko's polished debut, a romantic ecothriller, introduces Dr. Cassidy Lowell, a zoologist working for ZEBRA (Zoological Ecological Biological Research Agency). When the president of New World Petroleum targets Cassidy for refusing to report to OPEC that his company's oil spills haven't devastated West Africa's Niger Delta, Jake Anderson, of ZEBRA's covert Black Stripe team, rescues her from her research camp in the Delta. Back in the U.S., Cassidy investigates the mysterious deaths of wolves in Yellowstone Park, while Jake, posing as a biologist, acts as her bodyguard. The stricken wolves turn out to be infected with a genetic mutation of a virus, CPV-19, created by scientist Edward Fiske, who's horrified to learn his sponsor wants to sell it without an antidote. As the deadly virus jumps from wolf to man, Cassidy and Jake find comfort in their growing mutual attraction. Fans of Alex Kava, Shannon McKenna and Suzanne Brockmann will hope to see more of Cassidy and Jake. (Mar.)

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