In 1867, two men went missing on a whaling vessel out of Boston Harbor. According to published reports, the ship's captain found another sailor standing over their corpses, drinking their blood. Tried for murder, the sailor was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and died in an asylum for the criminally insane.

At least, that's the cover story. In fact, nineteen-year-old sailor Nathaniel Cade was turned into a vampire. His life was only spared to defend the United States against other "unnatural" threats. Bound in a blood oath by voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, Cade has spent over 140 years in service to the president. He is the ultimate secret agent—battling nightmares before they can break into the daylight world of the American dream.

Zach Barrows is an ambitious twenty-six-year-old White House staffer when his career takes an unexpected turn: he's assigned to be Cade's new handler and presidential liaison. Before Zach can get over the shock, he and Cade are sent to investigate a cargo shipment filled with the severed limbs of US soldiers. Zach learns that the world is far stranger—and far more dangerous—than he ever imagined. Their mission reveals the truth about the real Dr. Frankenstein, a shadowy conspiracy within the government, and a plot to attack the US with a gruesome biological weapon: an army of undying, unstoppable killers.

Incredibly clever and compulsively readable, this political thriller is packed with enough action to out-Bourne Jason Bourne.