The Tarantula was a diamond - a diamond as big as a man's greed: many men would fight for it, some would kill, some would die.

Martin Taggart found it, after six years' grubbing in the steamy disease-ridden mines of Brazil.

Charles Caine claimed it - he had sponsored Taggart and that was the deal.

Paolo Estavez coveted it, and flew Caine and his entourage deep into the Mato Grosso to seek it out.

But Helen could sense its evil power.

It led them all into danger: into hostile country, clashes with Indians, desperate encounters with wild animals, hunger, thirst: many of them died.

With the eye of a true traveller, the pace and action of a Wilbur Smith novel, Philip Caveney brings the terrors of the Mato Grosso to life. The pace quickens as Caine sets his mafia-like organisation in brutal pursuit leading to a final confrontation of breathtaking complexity and excitement.