Publisher's Synopsis
At dusk in a Midwestern provincial city, college professor Melanie Rossen ventures off for an evening run. Under a pinkish-orange sky slowly taken over by an indigo darkness in Shadyside Park, this simple run turns into a nightmarish attack to defy the most wildly spoken of experiences.
Detectives Glenda McMahan and Luther Charles are ordered to interview the severely injured victim at a hospital on the south side. Seasoned detective McMahan finds it difficult to swallow the woman's account-of a man turned into some hideous creature who performs a bloody ritual shouting out the word, "Balut".
In the next few weeks more attacks occur following Detective Charles's theory of the assailant cursed by some ancient myth from the annals of Lower Mythology from the islands of the Philippines. One attack in the back nine of a local golf course, Glenda's doubts wash away when the victim is revealed to be Luther's pregnant fiancé. This incident happens at the same time four FBI agents from the Chicago office are recruited by the detectives' sergeant.
While Luther takes a leave of absence to watch over the recovery of his fiancé, Glenda befriends Agent Wyla Stark. Agent Stark possesses a strong connection to this legend where both law enforcement officers learn this creature has a name. Glenda and Wyla get closer to a suspect tied closely to the Big Pharma family, the Rathbones in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The depth of the legend's origin brings Luther and his fiancé to meet a shaman in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. The shaman gives them instructions on how to capture the culprit, then break the curse. Soon as a group forms, all realize to capture and take this suspect to justice they need to go off the grid of normal police procedure.
The suspect is revealed to be Amora Rathbone as the curse of "Aswang" is broken in the evening hours at Shadyside Park in front of everyone-an injured Glenda, Wyla, Luther, the three agents called Paul, George, and John. Another aspect of Aswang comes forth as Amora is able to escape her cell-dark workings of witchcraft. With her escape, the importance of the Rathbone butler comes into play.
The Rathbone butler becomes sole heir to the Rathbone fortune. Before he leaves Indiana, he plans a beguiling dinner to destroy Amora. Glenda knowing the butler's disappearance is significant sets on a search to find him alone.
Glenda ventures out West, leaving Detective Charles and APD Detective Division behind. In the midst of the beauty of Big Sur in Central California, her discoveries bring her to such a state-madness invades her analytical makeup. This legend has taken over her mind, her psyche to such a place she doubts her usefulness as a competent officer of the law.
