Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." The converse is also theoretically possible: the things we assume to be magical or miraculous may in fact be technologically feasible. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have Sherlock Holmes astound people with his "deductive" prowess, but when Holmes would explain how it was done their surprise would turn to dismissal: the seemingly amazing skill appeared rather pedestrian once the mystery was eliminated. James Rollins' latest book, Sandstorm, offers up similar explanations for invisibility, virgin birth, antimater, and more, all in the service of a rather jumbled mixture of Indiana Jones, James Bond, and The Mummy.

A guard at a London museum investigates an apparent "break in" in one of the museum's antiquities collections and makes a fatal discovery. A shimmering mass of "ball lightning" drifts through the darkened museum and is absorbed into a statue. Moments later, the statue explodes in an inexplicable, horrific blast of incredible, almost unbelievable force. The explosion sets in motion several disparate groups, all of whom want to learn more about the origin of the blast and appropriate the potential power for themselves.

Lady Kara Kensington, the sponsor of the antiquities exhibit, saw her father die in the deserts of the Middle East. She believes that the rubble holds a key to discovering more about his death, and together with her friend Safia al-Maaz, the curator of the gallery, they sift through the ravaged building in search of clues. Meanwhile, the initial analysis of the blast has reached the most secret hi-tech organization in the U.S., which dispatches former U.S. Navy SEAL (and now covert operative and counter-espionage expert) Painter Crowe and his partner to investigate the odd power signatures associated with the blast - all of which indicate the presence of antimater.

Inside a broken statue, Safia and Kara discover a replica of a human heart which seems to have strange properties and which has several clues associated with it that hint it might help lead them to the lost city of Ubar, a legendary city lost centuries ago in the desert sands. When Painter and his partner arrive and start investigating, they are just in time to help foil an attempt by some unknown group to seize the heart. Painter fears that the leader of the unknown team might be none other than his former partner, Cassandra Sanchez, an agent who turned out to be a traitor and escaped from custody.