Preeminent astrophysicist Dr. Emil Euler Ganz vanished without any warning to his family or colleagues, only to reappear fifteen years later as "Father Jupiter," founder and charismatic leader of the scientific cult the Order of the Rings of God. Now he's dead--a vial of sleeping pills and an empty bottle of vodka standing near his lifeless body. Was Ganz's death an accident? Suicide? Or did someone hasten Jupiter prematurely out of this world? These are the questions LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker is determined to answer as he enters the cult's fortress-like compound. Meanwhile, the mysterious disappearance of an Order acolyte and a child turns an already volatile situation even uglier, and Decker will need the wisdom and support of his wife, Rina Lazarus, to defuse a ticking time bomb of jealousy, greed, and lies before it explodes, destroying a multitude of misguided adult lives and scores of innocent children.