Four employees of Island Fisheries come to a sun-scorched, isolated island to negotiate fishing rights with the sullen, paranoid islanders who have good reason to be afraid. Soon after the arrival of the four, a mysterious force the islanders thought was chained forever in the dark basement of the foreboding old Counting House is once again on the loose, savagely killing its women. Caught in a power struggle between rival island factions over how to stop the killing, the mainlanders are jailed. They manage to break out, but with a vigilante mob on their heels, can they reach the boat in time? They do, only to confront the mysterious, terrifying force.—Richard Lasser