A child of evil follows his terrifying destiny in this cult horror classic from the New York Times–bestselling “master of the Gothic novel” (Booklist). Mary Kate is an ordinary waitress stuck in a loveless marriage. But after surviving a brutal assault on the streets of New York, she finds herself pregnant with her attacker’s child—a boy who will prove to be anything but ordinary . . . Mary and her husband try to give their son Jeffrey a good life, but they are no match for the mysterious forces at play. Jeffrey soon renames himself Baal and sets about cultivating his terrible power. From a deadly cult in California to an orgy of violence in Kuwait, Baal is there, leading the madness. But it is in the hellish wasteland of the Arctic that Baal will unleash the crowning triumph of his evil . . . and meet his ultimate fate.