The first book in the epic "Expanse" series, now a major television production on Amazon Prime Video. Julie Mao was raised with all the privileges anyone could ever dream for, but she walked away from it all to join the Outer Planets Alliance, a loose, rag-tag association of humanity who live and work in the region of the asteroid belt and outer planets. The belters have always felt repressed by the inner planets and harbor feelings of resentment and ultimately rebellion. And now it appears that someone is experimenting on them with a newly discovered substance known as the protomolecule. Julie and the protomolecule become the central force which bring together the main characters of our story. James Holden, defacto captain of the renegade ship "Rocinante", and Detective Joe Miller, who has become obsessed with solving the mystery of Julie Mao's disappearance. Along with the crew the Rocinante, they discover the truth of the protomolecule: We are not alone in the universe.