Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142: When Detective Sidney Hurst attends a Newcastle murder scene, he discovers the victim is one of the wealthy North family clones. Yet none have been reported missing. And twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were horrifically murdered in exactly the same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. So if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? Tough and confident, she never wavered under interrogation, claiming she alone had survived an alien attack.

Investigating this potential alien threat now becomes the Human Defence Agency's top priority. St Libra's bio-fuel is the lifeblood of Earth's economy and must be secured. A vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and teams of experts are dispatched to the planet - along with Angela Tramelo, grudgingly released from prison. But the expedition is cut off deep within St Libra's rainforests, and the murders begin. Angela insists it's the alien, but her new colleagues aren't sure. Maybe she did see an alien, or maybe she has other reasons for being on St Libra.

Praise for Peter F Hamilton: `The most powerful imagination in science fiction' Ken Follett, `Novels that combine fantastic speculation with incredible detailed imagining of the lives we will lead' Guardian, `This is thrilling stuff; compulsively readable and abundantly full of ideas' The Times, `Reaches another level of excellence . . . Brilliant' Locus