For a writer seeking sanctuary, a seductive island off the Galician Atlantic coast induces a primal fear in a prize-winning shocker by the international bestselling author of the Apocalypse Z series.

In the summer, the Isle of Ons is a vacation paradise. But in the winter, when nature is unpredictable and supply boats are rare, Ons is far less inviting.

Yet the offseason is perfect for Roberto Lobeira, who hopes to find peace and inspiration to write his new novel. Instead, the island’s few permanent residents give Roberto an unnerving and cautionary welcome. There are even warnings of chilling Galician folklore that keep him on edge—and on watch at night. Then when Roberto finds a mysterious bundle floating near the shore, the contents trigger in the residents old family feuds, scores to settle, and an unspeakable thirst for revenge.

As a palpable sense of dread grows more threatening, a violent storm portends even worse to come. With all communication to the outside world shut down, Roberto must face not only the forces of nature but forces he has yet to comprehend on an island where people will do anything to survive.

Manel Loureiro is the international bestselling author of the Apocalypse Z series, Only She Sees, The Last Passenger, Twenty, The Door, The Bone Thief, and When the Storm Passes, winner of the 2024 Fernando Lara Novel Prize, one of Spain’s most prestigious awards for commercial fiction. Born in Pontevedra, Spain, Manel is published in more than thirty countries and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Thomas Bunstead has translated numerous Spanish-language writers, including Manel Loureiro, Agustín Fernández Mallo, María Gainza, and Enrique Vila-Matas. He is the recipient of two PEN Translates awards, an O. Henry Prize, and the McGinnis-Ritchie Award, and was short-listed for the Art Seidenbaum Award and National Translation Awards. His writing has appeared in such publications as The Paris Review and Brixton Review of Books.