When Cole Nightshade is sent to fight in Vietnam, his squad mates come to rely on him for his unusual abilities. Cole, they’ve discovered, has visions of people who’ve died. Sometimes the spirits warn him about imminent threats when his platoon is out on patrol—landmines, booby traps, ambushes. And sometimes they alert him to the existence of an otherworldly presence, a creature conceived by the horrors of war.

Wounded in action, Cole returns home to New River, Virginia, where he hopes to leave his combat experiences behind him. But the carnage he witnessed on the battlefield remains firmly lodged in his psyche, making a transition back to normal life feel impossible. What’s more, the influence of the malevolent entity he encountered as a soldier extends far beyond the jungles of Vietnam—and it has no intention of allowing him to escape its clutches a second time. 

Once again, Cole must battle a monster in human form before it destroys not only him, but the people he loves.