An ancient evil turns into future horror; May 1943, on a remote island in the South Pacific a squad of US Marines beats its way through dense jungle to oust the Japanese invaders. In short order, however, they begin to realize that this battleground contains an ancient secret a thousand times more terrifying than any ordinary foe. July 2008, amid the slums and skyscrapers of Boston a depraved new kind of serial killer is stalking its human prey relentlessly. Meanwhile, throughout the terrified city, the police find bodies bizarrely posed and mutilated in ways they have never previously witnessed. For Detectives Jefferson and Brogan, in solving this biggest case of their careers, the investigation will lead them around the world, through history and time - from a mysterious salvaged submarine to a pitch-black prison punishment pit, but inevitably returning to that sinister island where something unspeakably inhuman so long awaited its chance to re-emerge...