The Beast

By Robert Willsher

Something feral stalks the moors of Exmoor. Locals whisper of the Beast-an old legend, blamed for dead sheep and vanishing hikers-but when the mutilated body of a tourist is discovered in a Lynmouth seafront car park, it becomes clear this is no folktale.
Detective Inspector Rob Garland, newly reassigned to North Devon after a career in the Met, is first on the scene. Hardened by urban crime but unfamiliar with the region's murky folklore, Garland dismisses the whispers-until the body count rises and each victim shows signs of a predator that shouldn't exist.
Meanwhile, a retired special forces officer, Major Ian Saige, receives a coded message from a former colleague. Something has escaped containment from a facility that officially doesn't exist-NyxGene, a biotech contractor operating in the shadows. One of their chimeras, an apex predator bioengineered using spliced DNA from a Smilodon and other organisms, has broken free. Worse still, it's adapting.
As Garland, Saige's and other ex-military paths converge, they uncover a conspiracy rooted deep within government and corporate secrecy. With NyxGene enacting a brutal cover-up operation, anyone asking the wrong questions is silenced-some permanently.
As the creature grows bolder, its kills more theatrical, Garland, Saige, and a small group of allies must trap and eliminate the Beast before it disappears for good-or worse, breeds.
Set against the brooding beauty of Exmoor, The Beast blends dark folklore with cutting-edge science and military realism. It explores themes of exploitation, institutional denial, and the blurred line between predator and protector. With echoes of Dog Soldiers, The Thing, and Watchers, this is a horror-thriller with claws-and a conscience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GDWPRGY5
• ISBN13: 9798242424920
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"