With the memory of a brave friend's lynching and the destruction of another of his fiendish pursuers seared into his fear -crazed brain, John Ferris continues his gruesome pursuit of the father of darkness. For the reign of Robert Monk, torturer and despoiler of the innocent, is not yet over: in the guise of a witchfinder he blights the land with a plague of fire and lust - and with him rides John Ferris' beloved, the sweet-faced Mary Villers......John Ferris has sworn to reclaim Mary from the witchfinder's hell rabble. To save her he has followed the horrific trail of gibbets, burnings and maiming. But did she go of her own accord or was she forced by Monk? With the devil cornered at last, John must know the truth.