Vince Mercer

What if the next energy revolution began with five liters of water?German engineer Martin Keller claims to have built the impossible: a compact system capable of powering a car for more than a thousand kilometers using ordinary water. The public sees a miracle. The energy industry sees a threat. When Martin's demonstration attracts the attention of automotive giant Voltwerk, energy interests, government agencies, and people willing to do almost anything to control the technology, the experiment quickly becomes far more dangerous than anyone expected.
Then Martin disappears. His daughter Anna Keller, a thermal-systems engineer at Voltwerk, is pulled into a secret her father has kept from her for years. Hidden prototypes, unexplained laboratory accidents, stolen research, and an experimental material known as K-7 lead her toward a truth far more complicated than a revolutionary engine. Because the water was never the fuel. And the technology inside Martin's machine may not simply store energy.
It may be learning how the world around it works. As Anna races to understand what her father created, the consequences spread from a single vehicle to factories, power systems, hydroelectric facilities-and eventually far beyond Germany. Some inventions change an industry. Others change the rules. The Water Engine is a fast-paced techno-thriller about breakthrough energy, industrial espionage, corporate power, scientific obsession, and the price of creating something the world may not be ready to control.