The River of Diamonds

From NY Times and International bestselling author Geoffrey Jenkins comes a thrill-packed suspense novel that runs through the middle of hell.The quest for diamonds is one of the most dramatic, adventurous and dangerous of man's endeavors. It has brought out the best and worst in him. And dredging diamonds from the ocean floor is at the heart of one of these daring prospecting enterprises - for it not only hinges on malevolent natural forces but on the human obstacle of a mystery man named Shelborne.Shelborne was headman on Mercury Island, the bleak guano-covered point of storms off the South African coast, near which diamond company's ships were based. To John Tregard, surveyor for the mining operation, Shelborne was an implacable enemy, who put up road blocks at his every turn and seemingly was the keeper of the region's secrets.Why did the volcanic rumblings around Mercury Island kill animals and men but never endanger Shelborne? What was the secret to an underwater cavern given the named the Glory Hole, where a diver died instantaneously? What did the blazing Namib desert, miles inland, have to do with diamonds in the sea and why did Shelborne lure Tregard there, to the very edge of destruction?Shelborne's enigmatic and erratic behavior leads Tregard through a series of curious adventures and narrow escapes that sets back the diamond venture and compounds the mystery further. The outcome is a total surprise, a feat of plotting all the more satisfying because everything that has gone before is one surprise capping another.