Horror has tackled all kinds of invisible monsters before — hell, one of the greatest ones of all time is called the Invisible Man! But very rarely has it been tackled on the printed page, though author Jonathan Janz is about to change that. His novel Veil is available in stores now, and FANGORIA is excited to debut an exclusive excerpt from the chilling story about what one man will do to survive his own grief.

Published by Blackstone Publishing last month, Veil’s synopsis is as follows:

It begins at night. People vanish from parks and city streets. Then in broad daylight, they’re dragged screaming into the woods, into water, into the sky. People take refuge in their homes, but still the invisible creatures come, ripping people away from their horrorstruck loved ones. Spouses. Parents. Children. Nowhere is safe and no defense can stop them. Because nothing can save you from what you can’t see.

High school teacher John Calhoun loses his son the first night. A day later, they take his wife. For two months, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter manage to survive, but in the end, she is abducted too. In John’s darkest moments, he meets a motley group of survivors who have a secret: a near-fatal car accident has given one of them the ability to detect what normal human eyesight cannot.

The survivors believe they can replicate the brain injury that will enable them to see the creatures. To discover how they’re invading our world…..To fight them….Desperate to save his family, John volunteers. After the veil of invisibility is lifted, he and his new friends will risk everything to achieve the impossible: enter an alien world and bring their loved ones back.

Our exclusive excerpt relays the immediate aftermath of John losing his son, and the frantic panic that comes before everyone realizes that the widespread disappearances are, in fact, an epidemic. Told from John’s point of view, he’s harried and distraught, blaming himself for the tragedy that he soon will realize extends far beyond just his family.