At New York's JFK Airport, Flight 753 from Berlin, Germany, arrives and suddenly stops dead. All the shades are drawn and there is no communication with the pilots or passengers. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of a CDC rapid-response team investigating biological threats, is called upon to enter the plane. He encounters an unimaginable scene. All the passengers, pilots, and flight attendants are dead. There are no signs of abuse, guns, knives, or any other sort of weapon. People are still in their seats, some holding hands. The bodies are removed from the plane and brought to area hospitals and morgues for family members to claim. It is discovered that there are four people who are still alive but without any real memories of the trauma that they have been through.

As this is occurring, we are introduced to a gentleman who runs a pawn shop in New York, Setrakian, who is a survivor of the Holocaust and has knowledge of the entity that will be pervading New York after the tragic incident on the plane. Inside the plane is discovered a very large case filled with dirt. The case disappears from the plane with no knowledge of its contents. What follows is a whirlwind of knowledge regarding the beast that has been unleashed on New York by the machinations of a very rich and power-hungry individual.

I think this book would work well as a movie since it begins very slowly and then speeds too fast to the conclusion. I got very comfortable with learning about the families and the histories of the characters, but then there were a quick series of events intended to get to the desired conclusion.