Tendar Ree was a brilliant chemist and teacher and the pride of Papua New Guinea. When his beloved wife got pregnant, he was advised by a priest to move to Port Moresby to "more modern" facilities, rather than staying in their remote village of Wewak up on the Sepic River.

After Tendar's wife, Audine, died in childbirth, Tendar disappeared into the jungle for years. Driven by revenge, he reappeared at the priest's parish church and murdered everyone in it, including his son. They found the word "Moloch" in blood on the wall above the slain priest. Moloch was a biblical deity to whom children were sacrificed.

Madison Teagarden, an Australian Detective Inspector, was dispatched to Papua New Guinea to hunt down and arrest Tendar Ree. He succeeds, but Tendar escapes and disappears. Thus began a manhunt that would end up on the island nation of Vanuatu, in the remote mountains of Espiritu Santo, aptly named for its spirits. Natural forces challenge them, as do witchcraft, sorcery, revenge and chemistry.

The cast of characters hunting for Moloch, which includes the Australian detective, an ex-smuggler, a Mongolian horseman, a copra boat skipper, the Vanuatu police force and a Zulu ship's cook, makes for a good story.