AustLit

'Out in the Arizona desert, Walter Reckles emerges unscathed from an air crash in a classified zone. He’s under intense pressure to retract his story about hitting an illicit drone – a story that reignites a century-old feud between the families of Mortiss and Worse. Meanwhile, in a cave in the Ferendes, Edvard TØssentern has discovered a wall of indecipherable hieroglyphs and deep inside the cave something sinister is stirring. Brilliant intelligence analyst Richard Worse is called in to investigate. Can he live long enough to discover the truth that will save Reckles and destroy the Mortiss empire? Things will go from bad to worse before you find out.' (Publication summary)

Cambridge linguist Edvard Tøssentern, presumed dead, reappears after a balloon crash. When he staggers in from a remote swamp, gravely ill and swollen beyond recognition, his colleagues at the research station are overjoyed. But Edvard’s discovery about a rare giant bird throws them all into the path of an international crime ring. [Publisher's blurb]