Rick Kennedy feels good. Tonight there's going to be the party of the decade, the brother he hasn't seen for years has just flown in, and Rick is all set to do something about Kate Robinson, the beautiful girl he just can't get out of his mind. In the pleasant village of Fairburn the evening air is warm . . .

But this is also the night that Rick encounters the stranger in the wood. And soon he's waking up to find 30,000 refugees choking in the streets. People are running for their lives. Only there's nowhere to run.

Inexorably the ground heats up. Cities erupt into flames. Lakes boil. Survivors search desperately for refuge in a landscape burning forever hotter beneath their feet. But they have yet to confront the Grey Men - and the demons inside themselves. Because their blood itself is beginning to boil . . . with savagery, hunger and lust . . .