In the skies above the ancient Scottish city of Dundee, crows are massing. Beneath its streets, a forgotten river runs in darkness, and an ages-old monster slumbers. When the river dries, the creature will wake. In the fall of 1976, teenage student David is drawn by forces he doesn't understand to a city in the shadow of the crow. All too soon he will find himself tested and terrified beyond endurance. Forty years later, Detective John Dudek's investigation of a horrific killing leads him back to the mysterious events of the winter of '76. Like David before him, he is forced to accept the unbelievable, and must confront an ancient and unimaginably cruel evil. Two linked tales of darkness, courage and death are masterfully told through an interweaving narrative that pits friends against lovers in a desperate fight for survival.