First published 2023
Rudolf Diesel stands on the deck of the steamship Dresden on September 29, 1913. The famous inventor carries plans that could reshape global industry forever. His internal combustion engine runs without expensive petroleum fuel, making him wealthy beyond measure and dangerous to powerful men. Kaiser Wilhelm II wants the engine for German submarines to challenge Britain's navy. John D. Rockefeller sees his oil empire threatened. Diesel intended his creation to benefit humanity, not fuel war or enrich monopolists. When morning comes, his cabin is empty. The world's headlines scream questions: accident, suicide, or murder? Douglas Brunt reconstructs the final days of a man caught between his ideals and the brutal forces of empire and capital. The investigation reveals how invention becomes weapon and how one man's vision collides with the machinery of power on the eve of the Great War.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Germany, Britain, United States
Period: 1913, Eve of Great War
384 pages · Kindle Edition · Atria Books