Anthropologists argue over the significance of Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon remains, and vast periods of pre-history remain to be filled satisfactorily. These hidden eras of the long-dead past are as open to speculation and mysterious adventure as the unguessed vistas of tomorrow. How many strange, undiscovered species of man have lived and died leaving no apparent record of their existence?

An avalanche on the Swiss-Italian border isolated Marian Sanderson and a frightening assortment of other guests in a peculiar old alpine château. Although no human rescue party was able to make the climb, something moved on the precipitous slopes around them.

As Marian gradually discovered the truth about her fellow guests she realised the avalanche had been no accident. Something of terrible potential lurked outside the isolated château... Dark, supernatural forces were poised on the brink of Ultimate Fear...

Krells never set out to be a hero. He was the first to admit he was a trader. "In it for the money; I leave the thinking to the experts." But the experts couldn't solve the problem of Ralcor IX.

Professional fighters and scientific investigators vanished or were mysteriously destroyed. The robot might of an armoured Bellicose 35 was found shredded like tinsel. Krells still refused to think of himself as hero material - but he wouldn't quit. Martia, his computer girl, and Galor, the despatch man, stayed with him. For some reason the power that had driven every other terrestial humanoid off Ralcor IX couldn't dislodge the traders. Krells groped desperately for a reason. Finding one meant the return of his own people and that meant money. Something he couldn't understand was shielding him from the Unknown Menace. Suppose he accidentally stopped doing whatever it was that protected him...? Most people would have become neurotic and quit - not Krells. He didn't seem to have enough intelligence or imagination to know when to worry.

This is a new kind of novel, about a new kind of man. Krells is not an anti-hero; he is a man who sets out to solve an incredible problem by apparently ignoring the fundamental terms in which it is expressed.