It is a living hell: murderous Mayans . . . reptiles that kill on contact . . . creatures more deadly than crocodiles. No man has ever come back alive from Quintana Roo.

John Hooker is hired by beautiful, sexy Connie Braithwaite to discover the whereabouts of her billionaire husband, Nolan, who vanished a year before on an expedition into the Yucatan.

Quintana Roo's jungles barely conceal a violent mix of horrors old and new - "Muerateros," whose skill at torture has been honed over centuries, and their modern counterparts, who will stop at nothing to preserve their right to kill . . .