A Permanent Bond is an international and legal thriller which explodes a conflict between a shipbuilder in the Republic of China and one in the United States over the acquisition of a revolutionary discovery: an epoxy that bonds enormous sheets of steel, saving millions of dollars in labor costs during the construction of large container vessels.

Ben Leavitt, an M.I.T. graduate who has spent years in his loft configuring his formula, now faces a divorce from his neglected wife who, with their eighteen year old son, has moved into posh quarters on Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill, Boston,...