Within Galata's Shadow

An ancient lens that bends starlight. A city built on buried power. Three days before the alignment that could shatter both.

Aya Amrani came to Istanbul to bury the Aegis, the shadowy organization hunting relics that should stay lost. But when coded tombstones and Kadık¶y vault markings point to the Astral Lens, a device that once focused cosmic energy into devastating power, Aya realizes the Aegis isn't hunting history. They're building a weapon.

And they're three days from activating it.

Caught between Karim, the principled archaeologist who sees her as more than a thief, and Amina, the ex-lover who knows every secret she's buried, Aya must decode Ottoman-era astronomy before the Aegis does. The hunt drags them from Istanbul's night bazaars into Cappadocia's hidden chambers, then down to the drowned ruins off Bodrum's coast, where the final component waits under black water and the stakes turn fatal.

Codes unlock doors. Stone collapses. Ancient glass hums with impossible power. As the celestial alignment approaches and betrayal closes in, Aya faces a choice: trust the wrong person and doom Istanbul, or make the right call and lose everything that matters.

For fans of Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and Dan Brown, USA Today bestselling author Zack Hacker delivers breakneck adventure, Ottoman-era mysteries, and a heroine who refuses to lose.

Explore Within Galata's Shadow, Book 2 of the Aya Amrani Adventures.