At 36, Bruce Wetheral, a London insurance clerk, finds he hasn't much time to live. A few hours later he also learns that he has become sole heir to his grandfather's failing Canadian enterprise.
Campbell's land--perched at 7000 feet in the Canadian Rockies--may contain vast resources of oil. The old man's partners offer him a moderate sum for control. He declines the offer and launches his own search for Rocky Mountain "Black Gold."
"The art of writing thoroughly well-documented and ably-written thrillers is perfectly understood by Innes, whose work stands in a class by itself." --V.S. Pritchett
