Ascension

In 1991, Harold Tunmore --- once a brilliant doctor, now a nomadic investigator of mysterious phenomena --- disappeared. Three decades later he is found by his brother, being cared for in a psychiatric ward under an assumed name. His brother's reappearance awakens something within Harold who, burdened by an unbearable secret, commits suicide. All he leaves behind are a collection of letters, written but never sent, chronicling the horrifying discovery that drove him mad...

These letters tell the story of a secret expedition to explore a mysterious anomaly --- an impossibly large mountain, standing alone in the middle of the Pacific. Sections of the mountain appear to move entirely on their own. Time dilates in inexplicable ways. And three months ago, the mountain did not exist.

Under the auspices of a shadowy military organisation, Harold's is the second team to attempt to discover the secrets of the mountain. The first are all dead, except Harold's estranged ex-wife, for whom survival has taken an irreparable psychological toll.