White Devils

Nicholas Hyde, a volunteer working with a humanitarian charity in Africa, is part of a team investigating an apparent wartime atrocity. When his team is ambushed by small, ape-like-creatures - pale, fierce and preternaturally strong - most of the group are slaughtered in a matter of minutes. Only Nick and the team's government-appointed observer, William Ndinga, manage to escape, taking with them the body of one of their attackers.

Un diable blanc, Ndinga calls it - a 'white devil' - but after the rescue he falls in with the official story and quickly recants.

Nick is strongly advised to go along with the cover-up which seems to originate inside the multinational company that effectively owns the Congo. Shell-shocked and angry, he refuses to cooperate. And that's when people around him start to die.

Award winning author Paul McAuley has produced a thought-provoking, heart-stopping, white-knuckle ride through a near future Africa transformed by plague, corporate greed, and the dark side of biotechnology. Combining the vision of Michael Crichton, the suspense of Thomas Harris and the taut pacing of John Grisham, White Devils is the first genuine 21st century thriller. After this, everything else is history.

Author Biography: Paul McAuley has worked as a researcher in biology at various universities, including Oxford and UCLA, and for six years was a lecturer in plant science at St Andrews University. His first novel won the prestigious Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and his fifth the Arthur C. Clarke and the John W. Campbell Awards. He lives in North London.