The quiet, lakeside city of Ancroft has been shaken by the violent death of Frank Keller, local professor of mythology at Harbor College. Eyewitnesses to the bizarre scene reported that Frank was delirious, his flesh ripped bloody, while he repeated the haunting chants of a different tongue. When the local sheriff disappears, it falls on David Keller to unravel the mystery of this brother's death; a situation complicated by the arrival of Aaron Malcolm, a detective claiming to know what Frank was trying to say. "He is Menotath, he is here." Unsure who to trust, David enlists the help of Natalie, Frank's estranged wife, and Rebecca Holland, a Coast Guard Lieutenant grappling with the resurgence of extinct parasites in Lake Chinook. But the more David learns about Ancroft's dark secrets, the more his sanity starts to crumble.
