What if the most important message in human history arrived in the dead of night — and the only person awake to hear it was a man who'd given up on everything?

Eli Brandt took the night shift at a dying radio observatory in the high desert to disappear. A widower, estranged from his daughter, hollowed out by grief, he wanted nothing but silence. Then, at 1:00 a.m. on an ordinary Tuesday, something impossible comes down out of the sky and into his instrument: a signal that shouldn't exist. A signal that counts the prime numbers. A signal that, when he answers it, answers back.

What begins as one broken man's secret becomes a race across a thousand miles — pursued by a billionaire who has been waiting years for exactly this, toward a place on the map that should not be possible, where something ancient has been buried since long before there was anyone to find it.

Inside this gripping first-contact thriller you'll find:

• An ordinary, unforgettable hero pulled into something vast and wondrous
• A signal from the stars that asks the loneliest question in the universe
• A relentless billionaire antagonist who wants to own the answer
• Heart-pounding pursuit, awe, and a mystery two centuries in the making
• A stunning ending that opens the door to an epic trilogy

If you love Project Hail Mary, Contact, and stories that make you look up at the sky and wonder — this is your next obsession.