The Story

Ridge Dantley is flourishing as a journalist on the political beat and set to be married to his college sweetheart. Everything seems to be going perfectly—until a freak yachting accident turns a South Pacific vacation into a brutal test of survival. Taken prisoner by a cruel adventurer running an illegal gold mining operation, Ridge faces an impossible choice: living on his knees or dying on his feet. Any show of resistance or attempt at escape could mean instant death and at the same time, doom his fiancée and friends.

Even if by some miracle Ridge were to liberate himself, how far could he possibly get? He’s severely wounded. His nemesis commands an army of spear-wielding natives. He has no sure idea of where he’s been stranded among the nearly 1,000 islands and atolls of the Solomons. And worse, he suspects the mining operation is a cover for something far more sinister than simple greed run amuck—something that may well presage the end of civilization.

In his third novel in the Nightscape series of supernatural thrillers, David W. Edwards offers another signature mix of whirlwind action, Lovecraftian chills and weird renegade philosophy. 

Nightscape completists note: This novel explores the supernatural threat first introduced in the progressive rock concept album, To Sin Against Our Mercies.

Chapter Excerpt

Chapter 1
Catastrophe

In the early morning darkness, the vintage pleasure boat juddered to a stop, startling Ridge awake. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and sat upright in bed. His fiancée Mira eyed him lazily. He screwed up his angular face into a look of great concentration, waiting … Christ almighty. A resounding shriek of fiberglass confirmed his suspicions. Something had definitely struck the boat, or more likely, the boat—no longer secured—had run into something, caroming around the South Pacific like a pinball among the sandbars, coral reefs and atolls. He slid off the bed and hastily pulled on the gray slacks he’d worn the night before.