After a harrowing confrontation on the shores of Exmouth, Massachussetts, Special Agent Pendergast is missing, presumed dead. Sick with grief, his ward, Constance, retreats to her chambers, only to be taken captive by a shadowy figure from the past. Proctor, Pendergast's longtime bodyguard, springs to action, pursuing Constance's kidnapper through cities, across oceans, and into wastelands unknown. The darkest and most terrifying Pendergast story yet.