On a trip to Florida with his father, Johnny Dixon visits a fortuneteller, and receives an eerie premonition. Inside the crystal ball Johnny sees a ghost-white face with long white hair and black eyes like puddles of oil, which screams, "The universe shall be mine!" Back home, Johnny's father falls unconscious, gravely ill in a way the doctors can't understand. Johnny and his friend Professor Childermass investigate and soon realize that the spirit of Nyarlat-Hotep wants to use Major Dixon's body to destroy the world. To stop this fearsome demon, Johnny and the professor must join forces with Brewster, an otherworldly falcon, and fight Nyarlat-Hotep in its own, unearthly realm. Can they locate an ancient book and defeat their deepest fears in time, or is Johnny's father lost and our world doomed forever? Readers will shiver at the multiple worlds of suspense in this twelfth book in the Johnny Dixon series. "Eerie, suspenseful, and true to the style of Bellairs." -Booklist