Neal Asher’s Cowl is defined in the much future. The Heliothane Dominion is triumphant in the solar system, after a bitter battle using their Umbrathane progenitors. However, many of the foe have escaped into the past, intention on wreaking havoc across period. The worst of these is Cowl, an artificially pressured advance in individual evolution but one who is no longer human.

Polly, desperate to obtain funds to aid her habits, is definitely unprepared on her behalf participation with Nandru Jurgens, a Taskforce soldier, and the about Cowl killers seeking him. Nor can she resist the alien ‘tor’ which she feels impelled to attach to her arm. But she must find out fast, as she actually is dragged back again through time, not least that to the denizens of some previous eras, she actually is little more when compared to a convenience food.

Initially, the fragment of tor imbedded in Tack’s wrist sums up his value towards the Heliothane – a spot brought home to him with bloody abruptness. But, like a vat-grown programmable killer utilized by U-gov, he is no stranger to assault. His long trip in to the lethal globe of the Heliothane is beginning, the extent of his objective just becoming apparent.

In the meantime, hunting throughout time as well as the alternates, Cowl’s family pet, the tor beast, increases vast and harmful. And the beast continues to feed.