The Einstein Code

A lost cipher, and a race against time to decode it—a new thriller by James Patterson's Private Down Under coauthor

Marine archaeologists Kate Wetherall and Lou Bates are diving off Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, when a torpedo-shaped object hurtles through the water towards them; the fuselage of Amelia Earhart's lost plane. In the cockpit, they find a corroded metal cylinder the size of a baton. Landing back on US soil, Kate and Lou are arrested and interrogated by special forces, and the cylinder confiscated. Behind the arrests is Glena Buckingham, CEO of the powerful energy conglomerate Eurenergy, as she too has discovered that the wrecked plane may have held precious secret cargo. Meanwhile, an extraordinary piece of footage has come to light—of Einstein talking about a radical new defense technology he had been working on. Whoever can decrypt the lost cipher, which holds the key to Einstein's secret defense technology, could hold the key to global power.

Tom West is a pseudonym for an internationally bestselling author of nine novels, including Private Down Under, which he cowrote with James Patterson under the name Michael White. He has also been a science editor for British GQ and has written such nonfiction books as Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer and Leonardo: The First Scientist.