This is a story about the implementation of bleeding edge technology aimed to control social unrest arising from unemployment in major overcrowded cities of Europe and America. Dr Kurt Render, a flamboyant British scientist, is in the process of developing a new drug that can produce very pleasurable and relaxing effects, but without the downside of existing illicit substances. Users can get high and deeply relaxed without risking an overdose. Five years later, when two young people die after taking an unknown substance during a beach mega-rave in Marbella, British and American agencies launch a coordinated investigation. The trail they follow will take them through the gypsy neighbourhoods of Marbella, the backstreets of Brussels and the drug trafficking underworld of Maastricht, Amsterdam and London. Everything leads to the Virin Project. www.thevirin.com