THE CREATURE CRAWLED OUT OF THE RIVER ... It was hideous, bizarre, perhaps a throwback to the age of reptiles, perhaps an awful promise of things to come. And then into its steaming domain came the expedition, seeking the humanoid man-killer. Implacably hostile to men, it tried again and again to destroy them. And now nothing stood in its way except the unexplainable pleasure it took in Kay Lawrence, the only woman on board the riverboat Rita. What primitive emotion had caused the monster to spare her, when others had perished so horribly? Now it had her in its grip, and came closer ...