Dark Light Dawn

As with his Tyrant series (Black Scorpion, etc.), Thriller Award–finalist Land’s ambitious supernatural thriller draws on characters created by entrepreneur Fabrizio Boccardi: Ben Younger and his son, Max Borgia; and Dale Denton and his daughter, Victoria Tanoury, whose lives are all inextricably intertwined with a mysterious glowing rock. The rock, which was discovered in 1990 in the Yucatán, where Ben and Dale were drilling for oil, has dire consequences that only gradually become clear, as Land skips back and forth from past to present, globe hopping from Brazil to Yemen and Iraq and introducing major characters such as papal investigator Pascal Jimenez and terrorist Mohammed al-Qadir. Navy SEAL Max and virologist Victoria cross paths as Max battles innumerable enemies and Victoria tries to identify and cure an unknown, widespread pathogen that threatens the world. Land’s scattershot storytelling is heavy on the strange, the unexplained, and the violent in this epic adventure novel. Agent: Natalia Aponte, Natalia Aponte Literary Agency. (Aug.)