When the spaceship Jehad headed for Mars, millions of miles from Earth, four men & one woman placed themselves under the rule of Dr. Lewis Spartan, sadistic, power-mad leader of the expedition. Only when they were well on their way did they learn he planned to return to earth alone. By the time the ship reached Mars, jealous rivalry over the love of Gail Loring had turned the Jehad into a crucible of tense strife. Their internal struggles were nothing compared to the threat of the grotesque Martians who used electrical energy as weapons of war. They had to unite to stave off a massed Martian attack—a fight which, if lost, meant isolation & eventual death on Mars &, if won, bucking Spartan's demonic schemes.