This is the story of the rise and fall of the De Havilland Comet – the world’s first passenger jet airliner. At the height of World War II, a secret committee of visionary British scientists set about designing a revolutionary new aircraft that would launch a new era in aviation. When it came into service in May 1952, the revolutionary Comet was an instant hit with passengers. But then, in the space of just four months in early 1954, two Comet aircraft blew up in mid-air, killing all the passengers and crew. The catastrophic loss of these aircraft was as sudden as it was mysterious and the future of passenger jet aviation hung in the balance. On the direct order of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a British team of leading aviation experts was assembled to discover what went wrong, and as part of the process of solving the mystery, they wrote the rulebook of modern air crash investigation, with many of their pioneering techniques still being used today.

Frankie is in her forties, ambitious and successful. She works in the aerospace industry at Filton, designing surveillance drones for the military. Shes never married, and is completely in control of every part of her life. Her closest relationship is with her father, who worked as an engineer on Concorde. But her life changes forever when she embarks on a passionate affair with Kahil, a French/Algerian aerospace student, twenty years younger than her. One day, she arrives at work and is detained by the security services: Kahil is a person of interest to MI5. Her well-ordered life starts to unravel in a welter of suspicion and prejudice, as Frankie no longer knows whether to follow her passion or listen to the doubts that increasingly overwhelm her.

17-year-old Mariah Mundi’s life is turned upside down when his parents vanish and his younger brother is kidnapped. Following a trail of clues to the darkly majestic Prince Regent Hotel, Mariah discovers a hidden realm of child-stealing monsters, deadly secrets and a long-lost artifact that grants limitless wealth – but also devastating supernatural power. With the fate of his world, and his family at stake, Mariah will risk everything to unravel the Curse of the Midas Box.