To uncover modern Japan's darkest, deadliest secret, one man must face a living nightmare from his childhood Few villagers are happy when Detective Tohru Takuda returns to his hometown to investigate a string of suspicious disappearances. Even the local police chief tries to shut him out of the case. For behind the conspiracy lurks a monstrous living relic of Japan's pagan prehistory: the Kappa. Protected long ago by a horrible pact with local farmers—and now by coldly calculating corporate interests—the Kappa drains the valley's lifeblood, one villager at a time. As the body count rises, Takuda must try to end the Drowning God's centuries-long reign of terror, and failure means death…or worse.

From the author of THE DROWNING GOD, James Kendley, comes another chilling tale of horror set in Southern Japan. It’s been three years since security guard Tohru Takuda and his reluctant band of monster hunters defeated the Kappa of the Naga River. Now, a mysterious artifact is driving innocents in Southern Japan to flay their friends alive, and the grisly murders turn Takuda’s world upside down. Disheartened and impoverished, he struggles to lead his rag-tag team to find the artifact before it poisons the entire nation. Takuda is caught between the police, the bloodthirsty murderers, and forces conspiring to harness the artifact’s horrible powers. And all the while, he must watch his back, because the most dangerous killer may be lurking among his own men…