The first of a four-book series that looks into a dangerous future. In 2014, climate change has pushed the world to the boiling point. China faces drought and famine; gas costs $14.39 a gallon in the US, Europe has problems of its own. China sets her sights on food-rich Vietnam, and engineers a casus belli designed to justify her aggression, but Josh McArthur, a climatologist doing field work near the border, escapes the massacre of his research team and finds evidence of another — evidence that would discredit Chinese claims and frustrate their plans. Josh must not only escape the Chinese agents hunting him, but he's in the middle of a fast-moving war that is swallowing the country. Josh needs help, and gets it from several places, but he needs to get his information, and himself, if possible, to safe hands.