LIGHTS OUT - A NOVEL BY KEITH ABBOTT
“TERRORISTS CONTAMINATE THE WORLDS OIL SUPPLY...CAN WE SURVIVE?"
In the dead of night at the oil terminal in Lagos, Nigeria, two people are murdered. A third disappears, resulting in millions of gallons of petroleum spilling over the side of the Desert Rose, an oil tanker owned by Americo Oil, the fifth-largest oil company in the U.S.
Jesse Ford, Vice President of Americo Oil, is sent to Lagos to investigate and oversee the clean-up of the spill. Under pressure from his Board of Directors, Jesse meets with Dr. Aran Lassiter, owner of CIVO, a French biotech company. CIVO claims to have genetically engineered a micro-enzyme they call DENZ that feeds on petroleum. CIVO agrees to turn the enzymes loose upon the spilled oil for a price tag suspiciously below the expected rate. Time is critical. Every day millions of oil revenue are lost.
CIVO assures Jesse that the reproductive system in DENZ has been genetically eliminated and will die after consuming the oil. Contrary to their design and unknown to Jesse, DENZ does not die. Instead, it develops an appetite for oil and all things with an oil base, including asphalt, rubber, wire insulation, and gasoline. But, most chilling, DENZ develops a particular fondness for the oil on human skin and begins multiplying in quantum numbers. Under pressure from Washington politicians, petroleum contaminated with DENZ is delivered to the Strategic Petroleum Reserves by the Desert Rose and released into the marketplace.
The gas price breaks the $20 per gallon mark when it can be found. Civil unrest spreads throughout the country. Rolling blackouts are putting the lights out in the larger metropolitan areas. It’s up to Jesse Ford to find an antidote, stop the world’s annihilation, and get the lights back on.
ABOUT AUTHOR KEITH ABBOTT
Keith Abbott is originally from Colorado, where he spent 37 years as an attorney, much of his career in the oil and gas industry. He has been published in The Colorado Lawyer magazine. His short story, The 100,000 Year War, has won awards for Best Short Story in the thriller category. Lights Out is his first published novel.
Keith Abbott is a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Association, The Florida Writers Association, The Writers League of the Villages, Working Writers Critique Group, and Pen, Paper & Pals.
He currently lives in Florida.
