A predatory pastor, a harassed mayor and a biker gang meet in a small town living on borrowed time. After a wet winter, landslides were bound to happen.
“Rejean’s parents died under the wall of the house, collapsed beneath the weight of the moving earth. Rescuers found him conscious and lying on his back, a pinned insect on a bed of liquefied clay. Outlined against the faint glow of the sky, the stars watched him like the eyes of countless spiders. The black maw of the slide seemed to wait for his slightest movement, its mud tongue preparing one last swallow to engulf him.”
The Leda Clay is a “quick clay” given to landslides. Dr. Argile’s obsession is scientific: to understand how the clay transforms from seemingly hard rock into liquid mud, and to prevent the havoc it can cause to lives and property. Good luck with that: all are about to fall under the malign influence of the Leda.