It seems to be part science fiction, part murder mystery. But it is not a work of the imagination. It's real, and it's true. First, beginning in the 1980s, in the estuaries of North Carolina, there were dead fish by the thousands, stripped to the bone. Then the fishermen were attacked, afflicted by open sores that would not heal.

Only when the scientists studying the microscopic monster responsible for these incidents began to suffer from health effects that were mistaken for Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis did state officials reluctantly concede that they might be confronting a terrifying new plague upon our waters. Then, rather than investigating, they went after the messenger.

Now, all along the eastern United States seacoast, a mysterious and deadly aquatic organism named Pfiesteria piscicida - scientists call it "the cell from hell" - threatens to unleash an environmental nightmare and human tragedy of catastrophic proportions. In his dramatic and shocking new book, Rodney Barker tells the full and terrifying story of a microorganism far closer to home than the Ebola virus and equally frightening.

At the very center of his narrative is the heroic effort of Dr. JoAnn Burkholder and her colleagues, embattled and dedicated scientists confronting medical, political, and corporate powers to understand and conquer this new scourge before it claims more victims.