Dr. Cassandra Jane "CJ" Cameron is an alligator expert working as a freelance journalist when she is contacted by National Geographic for an assignment.

After being escorted to the Zoo in a private jet with blacked-out windows, CJ discovers the secretive nature of the Zoo: it houses living, breathing dragons, and the project is intended to be China's answer to Disneyland.

CJ and Hamish must find a way to stop the dragons from escaping into the wider world, all the while pursued by the park's military-grade security team, who believe that they can get the dragons under control and that all witnesses to the park's failure must be eliminated.

It was second on the bestsellers list for the week ending November 22, 2014, in Australia,[6] and was a top-three contender at Christmas.

[9] He says he was aiming to make the book a "gleeful monster movie on paper",[10] and described it as "out there".