The Reserve

Luke Merritt is the tenacious director of an ambitious conservation effort located in the jungled heart of the Congo River Basin. In the newly formed Kigogo Wildlife Reserve, where the scythe of death takes the form of microscopic flesh-eating organisms as easily as it does enormous crocodile, the inhospitable dark and swampy forest has kept it isolated from the bullets and blades of warlords that have taken so many lives in the region.

One month before the Reserve dedication ceremony, a guide is shot and killed. Most dismiss it as a random encounter with bushmeat hunters and another example of the daily violence that has gripped the country for centuries. But Merritt isn’t as willing to let the death go unexplained and unpunished. Has the violence finally arrived in Kigogo, or is there an entirely new presence in Central Africa?

With aid from an unlikely source, Merritt embarks on a dangerous journey into the Reserve and uncovers a crime that could have grave impact around the globe. A frantic chase through the interior of the Democratic Republic of Congo will decide Merritt’s fate, and for millions of people, life lies in the balance.