The last thing Department of Justice lawyer Patrick Carlton wanted was this case-a minor antitrust suit over a small diamond mine in Arkansas, forced on him by a vindictive boss. Settle it and be done with it, he's told, and he goes about doing just that-until he finds out what lurks beneath the surface. The conspiracy he uncovers, beginning with an obscure 1920 geological survey and leading all the way to South Africa, Siberia, Rome and the White House, revolves around one obsession: diamonds.

Carlton lands the case of his life, and it will be his last if he can't locate a hidden Russian diamond stockpile, bring a corrupt White House chief of staff to justice and break up a diamond monopoly controlled by the nefarious Waterboer Mining Co.

Carlton, an unlikely and reluctant hero, finds help from a disparate group, including a beguiling female coworker, a CIA desk-jockey and a flamboyant millionaire-entrepreneur. Lined against them is an array of factions looking to use the diamonds to further their own agendas. Carlton's quest to find the diamonds-and save his own skin-takes him across the Atlantic and into the Barents Sea, to the Vatican and inside the White House. Forced to confront one foe after another, Carlton finally gets Waterboer in the place he can hurt them most-a courtroom. A compelling page-turner from beginning to end, Kublicki delivers the goods with the legal and military realism of Grisham and Clancy.