In this galvanizing thriller, a guilt-ridden pirate leaves a last will and testament, claiming that the sinking of the Titanic was intentional. He gives exact details of how this, the most notorious unsolved crime of the twentieth century, was accomplished.
In 2012, when the will is finally made public, Gunny Vernon, a retired recon marine, learns that his adopted grandson is the sole heir to the deceased pirate's fortune. When Gunny and family find themselves required to comply with the conditions of the will, they are suddenly embroiled in great danger, which pits them against a stacked deck loaded with bad genes and fanatical terrorists. Gunny's exploits take him to Venice, Rome, Halifax and Bermuda, and eventually to his home state of North Carolina where he travels from the island of Ocracoke, to the historic township of Bath, to the college football town of Greenville, and finally, to Winston-Salem where he inadvertently solves an eighty year old homicide of an heir to a tobacco tycoon, and at the same time discovers three of the most priceless Christian antiquities in existence. Then, at last, he determines who is responsible for the sinking of the Titanic, and a monumental class action lawsuit is filed, which forces the disclosure of the true meaning of the Titanic Atonement, a meaning, which will foster mutual respect, undying love and an everlasting peace in the dangerous world of today.