A novel of prodigious scope and ambition, ablaze with imaginative energy and rendered in mesmerizing prose—complete with polar bear attacks, tsunamis, modern piracy, airship crashes, Cold War intrigue, and a djinn

On May 25, 1928 over the frozen seas of the Arctic, an airship falls out of the sky. Among the survivors is a young scientist on the verge of a discovery that will redefine physics. On October 3, 1996 through the dusty industrial towns of India's Great Trunk Road, a disgraced and disfigured female detective starts tracking a criminal syndicate whose tentacles spread from forgery to smuggling to piracy. Her life has been ruined, but she will have her revenge. On December 26, 2004 a tsunami washes up a rusting container on the island of Bali. Locked within this aluminum tomb are the mummified remains of a shipping magnate missing for 29 years, and a handwritten journal of his last days. On December 13, 2011 off the coast of Sri Lanka, a tramp steamer is seized by pirates. The captain has his wife and son aboard, and their survival depends on following the pirates' every demand. But what can they possibly want with his worn-out ship and its cargo of junk? The ship was carrying a Dead Water cargo—Dead Water is the key to everything.