Killer

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. James E. Gunn's Killer begins with a man trying to outrun the wreckage of his life and instead crashing into an Earthlike world that looks like paradise but feels like a test. Sam Newman, a commercial pilot scarred by a ruined marriage and a violent act, lands on a lush alien planet of soft grass, warm surf, and familiar trees, where beauty is shadowed by silence and unease. When he meets Louise, another castaway, their shared loneliness quickly turns into intimacy, offering what seems like a second chance at love, belonging, and redemption. But the island's dreamlike calm grows unsettling as Sam explores its eerie sameness and begins to suspect Louise may not be what she appears. His fear curdles into rage, and the story shifts from romantic refuge to psychological horror, ending in violence, emptiness, and a chilling irony about loneliness, desire, and the darkness Sam carries within him.