They came without warning - strange jellyfish-like creatures that flooded our oceans and beaches by the millions. At first they seemed a mere curiosity, these alien visitors glowing faintly purple as they pulsed through the waves. Tourists gathered to marvel at their graceful forms, children delighted in their squishy texture. We should have been warier from the start.

The first victim was a scuba diver, stung by the tentacles of an unknown species. Within hours a raging fever set in, soon followed by violent delirium. He became the index case of the epidemic as the mysterious neurotoxin spread rapidly from human to human.

Chaos erupted within days as the infected hordes - crazed and cannibalistic - overwhelmed authorities. Cities descended into anarchy, society teetered on the brink of collapse. Our leaders responded with lethal force and martial law, to little avail. For the jellyfish were only the heralds of a full-scale invasion from below, one that threatened to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth.

With INVADERS, Francisco Angulo has crafted a genuinely frightening and all-too-plausible doomsday scenario, underpinned by rapid-fire action and tantalizing scientific speculation. Part Michael Crichton and part Stephen King, Angulo's vision of an alien-engineered apocalypse will have you watching the waters with wary eyes long after you've turned the final page.