With extinction imminent, researchers visit an exclusive national park to observe one of the last troops of bonobo chimpanzees. Amid unusual behaviour and unexplained deaths, Shel Murray suspects her team is being hunted. Back at home, Shel's partner is attacked touring their new property. Amnesiac and quarantined, John is visited by an inscrutable doctor, tending to the still fresh wounds. As his memory returns, John questions not only the assault, but the renewed marks on his body, and the black fungus now growing on the walls. A sudden event changes everything. Shel is interrogated over the expedition in the park; John throws himself into work, developing new software. Together, with a greater understanding of how much they have to lose, they face a grave threat, something that promises to devour everything.
"Compelling, full of intriguing ideas, and yet retains an emotional sincerity and sensitivity... In terms of genre, MacInnes is gloriously promiscuous... covers everything from science-fiction to horror to dystopia, and manages to breeze through all this and more... It is written in a beautifully understated style - when you are dealing with big concepts, it's probably best to steer clear of too m
Scotsman
"MacInnes's writing is rigorous in its abstraction, yet there is a beauty to it, a quiet compassion. For all his gathering of evidence, he offers scant conclusions and in this he is like every one of us, sharing our fear for the future even as he charts its progress in meticulous detail. This novel confirms MacInnes as a writer of serious ambition and an uncanny degree of talent."
