Publisher's Synopsis
From New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, a classic, epic tale of unspeakable horror--now available in trade paperback.
The year is A.D. 922. A refined Arab courtier, representative of the powerful Caliph of Bagdad, 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.
