THE COLLATERAL EFFECT

A mystery born in the shadows of the past. A secret written in the human body.

August 2014. When her father-a respected doctor from the Parma Apennines-dies in a tragic cogwheel railway accident in the Cinque Terre, Monica Martinelli is devastated. But when Mathias Ponzi, a meticulous investigator from Lloyd's, raises unsettling doubts about the nature of the accident, grief turns to suspicion.
Together, they set out to uncover the truth and, what begins as a simple inquiry, leads them across the Atlantic to the Nevada desert, where echoes of a secret cancer research project from the 1970s still linger. Funded by a mysterious philanthropist, the project seemed to have stumbled upon something extraordinary... something that could alter the limits of human life itself.
As Monica digs deeper, she discovers that her father might not have been who he claimed to be and that powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep the past buried. When the investigation turns deadly, Monica is forced to flee and go into hiding.
May 2024. Ten years later, Gwenda Jones, the First Lady of the United States, boards a spacecraft bound for the Moon. Her mission? A historic summit with a Russian-Chinese delegation aimed at deciding the future of humankind beyond Earth.
But sabotage strikes the lunar base, and Gwenda is taken hostage. What then unfolds will connect her fate to Monica's, to a vanished generation of scientists, and to a forbidden experiment that might have already changed the course of humanity.
A gripping blend of science, mystery, and conspiracy, The Collateral Effect spans continents and decades to reveal the devastating cost of tampering with life itself. Perfect for readers of Blake Crouch, Michael Crichton, and Kate Morton.