King Blood — Simon Clark

Warm
Rick Kennedy feels pretty good. Tonight there's going to be the party of the summer. The brother he hasn't seen for years has just flown in, and this is the night Rick plans to do something about Kate Robinson -- the beautiful girl he just can't get out of his mind. In the pleasant village of Fairburn the evening air is warm...

Warmer
And this is the night that Rick encounters the mysterious stranger in the woods.

Hot
Soon he wakes to find 30,000 refugees choking the streets. People are running for their lives. Only there's nowhere to run.

Hotter
The ground heats up inexorably. Roads melt. Cities erupt into flame. Lakes boil. Pockets of natural gas explode like nuclear bombs and geysers of scalding water flood through whole communities.

Burning
Survivors search desperately for refuge in a landscape burning forever hotter beneath their feet. But they have yet to confront the Grey Men -- and the demons inside themselves...