Book summary

Government agent Rachel Sexton, the daughter of a prominent U.S. Senator, is sent to the Arctic Circle to investigate a questionable NASA discovery, which may be the first proof of extra-terrestrial life. Since both NASA and the incumbent president have grudges against Rachel's father, she has reason to think that she may be in the midst of a set-up. In the frozen north, she and her team locate a meteorite which contains fossils of insects unlike any found on earth, a landmark finding which seems to confirm the legitimacy of her mission. But when a civilian scientist goes missing near the site, it triggers a chain of events which will leave Rachel fighting to stay alive and unveil a shocking government plot. This was Dan Brown's third book, and the last he wrote in relative anonymity, before THE DA VINCI CODE made him one of the most popular and controversial authors of the early 21st century.