Napo River

About the Book

The assasination of his cousin, Dr. GUSTAVO DAHL, an environmental activist, spurs ED DAHL to abandon his desk job in Houston and travel to the Oriente Province in the Ecuadorian Amazonas. His cousin had been fighting the multinational oil companies that are despoiling the primordial forest and decimating the forest Indians.

Texaco began developing the oil fields in Ecuador´s Oriente Province in the late 1980´s. In our story True Energy, a Houston based independent operator, gets the right to exploit Block 26, a huge area south of the Napo River that bisects the Huaorani´s homeland. True Energy´s careless operation becomes an ecologocal disaster affecting one of the richest biotic areas in the world and depriving the Huaorani Indians of the use of their ancient hunting grounds.

Dr. Dahl´s effort to curb the oil companies´ excesses infuriate them, but Ed doesn´t believe they would go as far as murder to silence the doctor. After all, his is not the only voice opposing the multinationals. Ed suspects there is another reason for the assassination.

Ed finds his cousin´s contact in Quito. She is Dr. INEZ QUIROGA, a lissome young environmentalist, who agrees to help Ed investigate Dr. Dahl´s death. They both travel to Coca, a ramshackle oil town in Ecuador´s oil producing region. There they meet IGNACIO, an Huaorani shaman and Dr. Gustavo Dahl´s friend.

Ignacio tells about True Energy´s reckless operation. He also says that there are rumours about a secret laboratory in the jungle making chemical and bio weapons.

A handful of Indians in the rain forest recenly died from a desease that looks suspiciously like anthrax. Since no anthrax outbreaks have been reported in the area, Dr. Dahl suspected something awry. This information puzzles Ed. Maybe his cousin knew about the illegal operation. Is that the reason for his assassination?

Ed and Inez discover that an organization called the Troika is financing the clandestine laboratory. The Troika is a neo-Nazi group based in Argentina that is planning to overthrow that country´s legitimate government. They plan to use the chemical weapons as another tool in their arsenal.

The author takes the the reader through an armed rebellion, narcotic raids and firefights. Argentina, Ecuador and the Texas Hill Country are the settings for this fast-moving thriller.

Does Ed find his cousin´s assassin, and does he succeed in defeating the Troika before it ruins Argentina and spreads its tentacles across the sub-continent?

About the Author

Uno Wahren is a registered professional engineer with experience in the oil and gas industry. He has participated in the development of a new oilfield in Ecuador’s Oriente Province. He has worked on various overseas assignments and has lived fifteen years in Latin America. Uno Wahren lives with his wife Phyllis in the Montrose district in Houston. He writes fulltime and relaxes sailing his sloop Sunflower.