Theme - A mysterious suicide in the University of Limerick reveals the jealous and revengeful underworld of Physics research in the west of Ireland.

Rob Hussey is a terrible student. A four year physics degree has taken him six years and counting. Having eventually reached the final year he has tried to shut out all thoughts of a social life and to focus on finishing his final year project and getting out of college. On one night in March, on the first night of Limerick’s infamous Rag Week, his plans are doubly scuppered when his obnoxious and conniving younger brother suddenly moves in, and his project supervisor, who wasn’t particularly helpful in any case, commits suicide in highly suspicious circumstances. Rob is instantly the focus of much unwanted attention. The college authorities are questioning him, the other lecturers are treating him strangely. His best friend, Jim, becomes morbidly and incessantly curious. Even the Guards and the national media want some of his time. Some of the attention, however, is distinctly welcome.

Jennifer is the elegant and ruthlessly ambitious journalism student who Rob has had his eye shyly on for years. She spies a conspiracy of silence in the Physics Department and in it, an opportunity to make a name for herself. She cajoles and bribes Rob into helping her get to the bottom of it. Together they dig deep into the dark world of funding bodies, plagiary and the pressures to either produce results or, if needs be, to fake them.

Rob and Jen’s investigations uncover a secret research program that the Physics lecturers believed was on the verge of a fundamental discovery about the origin of life. The importance of this discovery was so great that each was scheming against the others to steal the limelight, with an increasing cruelty that would lead ultimately to tragedy.

The case seems closed until a chance comment by Rob’s odd friend Jim exposes his part in the scheme and leads to the final twist in the tale…

This story unfolds in the atmosphere of campus life - drink, drugs and mouldy tea cups - the lot of students, their relationships with each other and with the establishment. It is ultimately a story about ambition.