UCLA graduate student Christina González wanted to use biotechnology to free America from its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Instead, an act of eco-terrorism unleashes her genetically-modified bacteria into the fuel supply of Los Angeles, making petroleum useless. With the city paralyzed and slipping toward anarchy, Christina must find a way to rein in the microscopic monster she created. Set in the mountain-ringed Los Angeles basin, this terrifyingly plausible science thriller about good intentions, unexpected consequences, Peak Oil, climate change, experimental biofuels, and the astonishing power of microorganisms will make you pause every time you fill up your car.

Amy Rogers is a Harvard-educated scientist, novelist, journalist, educator, editor and critic. Making use of a high-tech style, Petroplague's cover design contraposes the skyline of Los Angeles with its reflection reconfigured as an oil refinery to represent the fuel-dependent circulatory system of a contemporary metropolis. The slanted composition creates a visual tension that echoes the impending dangers that lure in every chapter of the book.