The black rock stood within itself, brooding and implacable. It waited as it always had. A missing boy: A trio of mismatched mercenaries -- Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenzer Elkins, colloquially known as "the Englishman" -- are hired by Ellen Bellhaven for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven, where a clandestine religious cult holds sway. A terrifying cult: But shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. There are stirrings in the woods and over the treetops. And above it all looms the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock, around which nothing will grow. A cosmic horror: But once the mercenaries infiltrate the cult, they can't get back out. Something is keeping everyone at Little Heaven. And its power is growing . . . Old-school horror meets modern-day storytelling in this unforgettable novel by the bestselling author of THE TROOP.