From the bestselling author of Jurassic Park, an epic tale of unspeakable horror

The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Baghdad, encounters a party of Viking warriors who are journeying to the barbaric North. He is appalled by their Viking customs--the wanton sexuality of their pale, angular women, their disregard for cleanliness . . . their cold-blooded human sacrifices. But it is not until they reach the depths of the Northland that the courtier learns the horrifying and inescapable truth: he has been enlisted by these savage, inscrutable warriors to help combat a terror that plagues them--a monstrosity that emerges under cover of night to slaughter the Vikings and devour their flesh . . .

"Crichton knows how to craft a tale, one that keeps the reader turning the pages."--Houston Chronicle

"Michael Crichton is one of our most gifted popular novelists. A true son of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. . . . A master of plausible and frightening scenarios. . . . He is a connoisseur of catastrophe."--Los Angeles Times