The Chief Engineer: Life and Death in the Engine Room
The Hidden War for Global Trade in the Strait of Hormuz

About this book:

Beneath the bridge of every cargo ship lies a four-story inferno of pressurized steel and 130-degree heat—and the only thing keeping the global supply chain from grinding to a halt is the Chief Engineer. When veteran Evgeny Petrov turns up dead on the lower grating of the *MV Alessa* while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the official verdict is heat stroke. The truth is far more dangerous: Petrov knew about tampered safety valves, poisoned fuel, and the shadow economy that keeps rusting hulls moving through the world's most volatile chokepoint.

From the deafening engine rooms of bulk carriers to the back-alley shipping offices of Dubai, *The Chief Engineer* follows the forensic trail of a murder designed to look like an accident. Drawing on secret logs, leaked transcripts, and unprecedented access to the insular world of merchant mariners, this investigative narrative exposes a maritime underworld where flags of convenience hide corporate crimes, limpet mines appear in the night, and cyber-spoofing can paralyze a vessel without a shot fired. Here, geopolitical warfare isn't waged by navies—it's waged by sabotaged purifiers, corrupted software updates, and men who know too much.

Part maritime thriller, part anatomy of the hidden infrastructure that feeds modern civilization, this book descends into the bilges of global trade to reveal its terrifying fragility. You'll never look at a container ship on the horizon the same way again—because the next time the supply chain breaks, the explanation won't be found on the bridge. It'll be buried in the engine room, where the pressure is always rising and the alarms have been silenced.