ROBERT LUDLUM`S THE UTOPIA EXPERIMENT

With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the President was forced to establish his own clandestine group - Covert-One. It is only activated as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out. When Christian Dresner of Dresner Industries unveils a device that will revolutionise the world - the Merge, a personal computer that communicates directly with your brain - army microbiologist Colonel Jon Smith is assigned to assess its military potential. In addition to giving you the ability to control all your applications using only your mind, the Merge also gives you perfect eyesight, infrared vision, and incredibly accurate aim with a gun.

Meanwhile, in the wilds of Afghanistan, Randi Russell encounters an entire village of murdered Afghans - who all have Merge studs in their skulls. As Smith and Russell begin to delve into the circumstances surrounding the Afghans' deaths - and the bizarre fact that they all have Merges weeks before the official on-sale date - they're quickly blocked by someone at the highest level of the military. Is the Merge really as innocuous as Dresner claims? And what secrets is the military hiding about its development? Smith and Russell are determined to learn the truth. But they may pay for it with their lives...