Synopsis

A young professor, Bill Thomas, is struggling with his family and career. He seizes an opportunity offered by an old college friend to collaborate in the study of a remarkable archeological discovery, Druid stones newly discovered in Godmanchester, England. It is October in metropolitan Detroit. Bill, a professor at Wayne State University, and Colin Reid from England, arrive in Detroit with the Druid stones they have unearthed. An seemingly mundane accident on the freeway from the airport becomes the turning point for Bill's life. As if caused by a specter of destiny, Bill Thomas becomes mysteriously bound to the stones. Already mired in a tension filled time with his family and career, he now has his sanity assaulted by mysterious dreams in the days that follow.

Bill experiences incredible headaches and lapses of memory, and when people begin to turn up dead a belligerent police detective accuses Bill of murder. He begins to question his own sanity and the safety of his family. Through the work of Colin Reid deciphering the Druid writings on the mysterious stones and a psychology professor, who specializes in the paranormal and occult, interpreting the writings, the three professors construct an unbelievable theory to explain the horrible purpose of the Druid stones. The message from the stones is shattering. The only solution to the horrible truth from the stones is what Bill must do, and that his life is probably forfeit. He pursues a course he prays will save his family and possibly mankind from the approaching unbelievable horror. But he doesn't know if he will he be able to face the horror?

Bill Thomas is an easy-going husband to Kathleen and father of three little girls. They are truly the loves of his life. During the last couple years he has been obsessed with work, driven to prove to his father that he can obtain tenure and security for his family. Complicating his pursuit of tenure is a bad relationship with a new department head, which causes Bill to fear for his position at the university. Kathleen is a devoted wife to Bill. She only wants Bill to be happy. She would like Bill to stand up to his boss even at the cost of sacrificing their nice home for Bill's happiness in his career. As a result of Bill's reluctance to fight his boss she has lost confidence in him.

Colin Reid, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Salford in England, is an unselfish friend of Bill and Kathleen. They met at Cambridge University when Bill was doing post-doctoral study. Colin, although more reserved than Bill, is a little on the nervous side. Evelyn Devereaux is a professor of psychology at Wayne State University whose specialty is parapsychology and the occult. She's a lady with country wholesomeness and not given to snap judgments. She is instrumental to Bill and Colin in shedding light on the purpose of the mysterious stone.

Excerpts from the Book

It was like driving in one of his nightmares, the way the van's headlights speared the gloomy mist that fell lifeless from the black night sky covering the city. It was amazingly similar to what he'd seen before lying in bed, eyes closed, during a travel in a churning dream. Bill Thomas could have made a videotape of his travel along this stretch of highway tonight, and it would have been an exact reproduction of the first part of a nightmare that had plagued him over the last two years.