Up The River

The river does not care why they came. It only decides how much they will lose before they leave. In the remote Brazilian river town of Vila Andos, veteran guide Rand McCallister has built a life around one hard-earned truth: the jungle owes no one safe passage. When Dr. Ernst Becker of the International Museum of Natural History hires him to lead an expedition deep into the Amazon basin, Rand accepts on one condition—once they enter the river, his word is law. Becker claims the mission is scholarly. His research associates carry ambitions of their own. Their destination lies beyond the Madeira confluence, where fragmentary records point toward an isolated Incan site and the Eye of the Sapa Inca, a legendary diamond hidden for centuries. Reaching it will require weeks of paddling through flooded forest, dangerous portages, fever country, predators, and waterways whose deadliest threats are the ones outsiders never think to fear. But the jungle is not the expedition's only danger. Someone else is following their route. Signs of a disciplined shadow party appear along the river—military boot prints, abandoned German provisions, and camps positioned to watch the water. Within Rand's own group, impatience turns to resentment, academic curiosity begins to resemble greed, and secret plans threaten the fragile authority keeping them alive. As the river narrows and the ancient site draws closer, Rand must determine which threats can be survived, which men can be trusted, and whether the treasure waiting upriver was hidden to preserve it—or to test anyone reckless enough to claim it. Up the River is a sweeping expedition adventure filled with Amazon survival, lost Incan ruins, dangerous rivalries, ancient secrets, and a river guide who knows that the jungle keeps a precise account of every choice made within it.