When schoolgirl Lisa Martin vanishes from the Hammershire village of Midriven, newcomers claim she ran off with a boy or was abducted by an escapee from Irongate Prison, but old timers know better. She was taken by the Beast, a nameless monster, though some call it a god, that has roamed primeval Robbers Wood since before the advent of man. When DCI Arthur Ravyn and DS Leo Stark of the Hammershire Constabulary are called in, the elder villagers shake their heads. The Old Gods keep what they take. Even if they do find the girl's savaged body, they will surely die themselves. What chance do two country coppers have against an elemental force of evil? After all, this is Hammershire County, where change comes slowly, if at all, where the past often intrudes upon the present, and where old things sometimes refuse to die.