He stares for hours at the shapes, the movements, listening to the whispers echoing up to him… and then he falls.Following the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled inAnnihilation, the second book of theSouthern Reachtrilogy introduces John Rodriguez, aka “Control,” the new head of the government agency responsible for the safeguarding of Area X.His first day is spent grappling with the fall-out from the last expedition. Area X itself remains a mystery. But, as instructed by a higher authority known only as The Voice, the self-styled Control must battle to 'put his house in order'.From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes & hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the mysteries of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself & the agency he's promised to serve.Undermined & under pressure to make sense of everything, Rodriguez retreats into his past in a labyrinthine search for answers. Yet the more he uncovers, the more he risks, for the secrets of theSouthern Reachare more sinister than anyone could have known.Described as ‘a contemporary masterpiece’ by theGuardian, theSouthern Reach Trilogyis a stunning work of contemporary science fiction that challenges the boundary between known & the unknown, human & alien, terror & limitless beauty.°°°“With its uncanny, eerie, often outright terrifying atmosphere, theSouthern Reachseries often feels as much a gothic story as it does a work ofscience fiction, particularly in the way it juxtaposes the horrific & the sublime. In common with other novels classed as so-called‘weird fiction’it’s a composite of disparate and often opposing elements; a chimera which metamorphoses in new ways for each new reader. It’s a styleVanderMeersees as essential to the way he constructs his fiction.”— Martha Greengrass,Waterstones