The State Within

Inspector Raymond C. Fowler is the officer in charge of Gasforth police station, a devoted servant of the crown--and a terrible stickler for rules and all forms of correctness. His second-in-command, Sergeant Patricia Dawkins, is also his partner and very much in command in all non-police matters, with a nasty tendency to forget her professional place. The uniform branch is further manned by three Constables: older Trinidadian-born Frank Gladstone, promising foxy Pakistani Maggie Habib, and English simpleton Kevin Goody, good friends but constantly arguing and overeager, especially by Fowler's impossibly-high standards. They share the station with loudly arrogant but stupid and shockingly discourteous Detective Inspector Derek Grim's CID branch, which includes Detectives Robert Kray and Gary Boyle. The Mayoress, whom Fowler knew in schooldays, is a further worry. The crooks usually cause much less trouble then the permanent cast.

A teenage boy named Paul is haunted by apocalyptic dreams that nobody can explain. As if that weren't terrifying enough, he begins to see spirits of the dead, known as The Fades, all around him. The Fades can't be seen, smelt, heard or touched by other humans. When an embittered and vengeful Fade, Polus, finds a way to be human again, it's up to Paul to stop him - and all of the dead - from breaking back into the world and destroying the human race.