Neal Asher is on top form in Cowl, his fast-paced space opera. Cowl was a human. Now he's the nightmare you never imagined . . . In the far-future, the Heliothane Dominion triumphed after a bitter war.But some enemies escaped into the past, to wreak havoc across time.The worst is Cowl – originally human, until artificially-forced evolution made him something else entirely. Polly is unprepared for her involvement with Nandru Jurgens.He’s a Taskforce soldier, now hunted by killers. Nor can Polly resist the alien 'tor' she’s compelled to attach to her arm.But when she’s dragged through time, she learns fast.Tack has a tor fragment embedded in his wrist – a bloody reminder of Heliothane’s government.As their vat-grown assassin, he’s no stranger to violence.But the extent of this mission is different. Meanwhile, a beast hunts its targets through time’s alternate dimensions.This is Cowl's pet tor – and it’s eager to feed.