Harvard entomologist Dr. Trygve Lindstrom

can't refuse a mysterious invitation to attend a conference in London, for "the greatest scientific expedition in history." The powerful pharmaceutical company, The Chapter, is funding dozens of prominent scientists for a year's sabbatical to biological hotspots across the globe to collect specimens that may become tomorrow's miracle drugs. Lindstrom's assignment is a dream come true: collecting rare insects in a remote corner of Madagascar, the Red Island.

Lindstrom soon befriends a reclusive Malagasy tribe of Rock People and begins sending hundreds of new and rare insect specimens to The Chapter. Sketchy documents and folklore attribute to the tribal shaman of this tribe an exceptionally long, youthful, disease-free life. Have the Rock People found the Fountain of Youth? Is there any truth to rumors of an insect, a bibeleky, whose bite confers youth and health?

Lindstrom ridicules the native stories . . . until he discovers the frightening truth. The Chapter will stop at nothing to exploit such a priceless discovery.