Matt Turner grew up witnessing firsthand the worst crimes imaginable. At age nine, he discovered his special ability to ""read"" the emotional imprints people leave on objects. Against better judgment, his police detective father used his son's talent to help him solve crimes.

Now, at 26, Matt tries to keep to himself, but an enemy he thought long gone interrupts his tropical vacation, flying him all over the globe to help track a 3,500-year-old Egyptian opal found sealed in a Cuban tree trunk. In Cuba, Matt finds not riches but even deadlier foes, and the secrets of a long-dead explorer who will forever alter Matt's life.