Bruce Cornwell

A team of scientists working on a remote dig site find the buried body of an enormous monster, perfectly preserved even after 200 million years. As soon as the beast is uncovered, however, an alien spacecraft suddenly appears above them and brings the monster back to life! The creature immediately sets about levelling the surrounding urban landscape and shrugging off the best firepower the military can throw at it. A lone scientist, working on decrypting an ancient set of hieroglyphics, may be on the verge of finding the aliens' weak point, but will it be too late?

Mattie, a widow living in the backwoods of Florida during Prohibition, meets Trax, a charming man much younger that herself. Trax is a womanizing, lying bootlegger who needs money and he sets his sights on Mattie who can support him. After energetically courting her, Mattie marries Trax, who before long brings home a young woman to be their housekeeper, but it is obvious that she is to be his mistress. When Trax leaves on business, the two women each contemplate how they are being exploited and Mattie comes up with a plan of her own.