The outdoor wedding of Jack Swyteck and Andie Henning has to be moved inside due to a storm centered over the Florida Straits, but even under the glow of a Bud Light sign the bride is beautiful, and the wedding is sealed with a kiss. The newlyweds make it to their honeymoon destination in the lower Keys that evening, but after two nights of wedded bliss their honeymoon is aborted -- Andi's leave is canceled and she needs to be in D. C. ASAP. An oil rig explosion, Scarborough 8, in Cuban waters approximately sixty-miles from the Florida Keys makes for a very complex problem for the United States environment, as Cuba will not allow any US assistance or interference. The drilling is being done by a consortium on a Cuban mineral lease, by Petroleos de Venezuela a government owned company. The consortium consists of partners in China, Russia, and Venezuela. This catastrophe promises to be as big as the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico over three years ago, and is flowing over fifty-thousand barrels of oil per day into the ocean.

The talking heads on news shows can't decide if this was a terrorist attack on the rig, or just a bumbling accident. One of the fatalities is Rafael Lopez, a young Cuban man who was one of a handful of Cubans allowed to work for the oil consortium, and whose wife had fled to the US and she is now a citizen. Jack is persuaded to represent Bianca in a wrongful death suit lawsuit against the consortium by a US citizen.

BLACK HORIZON has a mesmerizing, intense, and volatile plot, with humor provided by Jack's friend Theo Knight. James Grippand's tight plotting, exceptional characters, and smooth narrative makes this sensational book very difficult to put down.