The ´Min´ by (c) Roland Faber Names of persons and places are fictional The story begins during World War Two, when three different trials of weapons on both sides go wrong simultaneously. As a result thereof, a large stretch of marine life on the east coast of England is destroyed. On the seabed, however, a species of bachyura mutates and survives the disaster and in fact thrives on it. The impact of the accident somehow affected the small coastal town of ´Maleybrough´, adjacent to the site of the catastrophe. The story picks up many years later, in the autumn of eighty-two. Joe Dale, 39, an ex-teacher, tries to pick up pieces of his shattered Life. After a broken short marriage and a career lost to his strong views, he arrives in Maleybrough. He attempts to integrate into this small community, they refuse him.

It proves a hostile community to strangers in general. The xenophobic town´s folk is tightly knit by ´their´ secret, so it appears. Then, two young women, acquaintances of Joe, disappear. It materialises that Dale´s fate is irretrievably knotted together with that of the missing two females. He desperately tries to locate the two women. One day, trying to clear his head during a beach walk, he stumbles across a carapace from a strange crustacean. Matter of fact, he informs his student friend Barry Night, a marine biologist about this peculiar find. He is very interested about this and arrives on the scene to examine this new species.

Dale comes on a collision course with the town and feels that his days there may well be numbered. But he must find the girls at all costs. Wendy Masterson, the sister of one of the women comes to his aid. They try to unravel the mystery together. During an investigation of the seabed, Night comes to harm. Those crabs have become killer crabs. The remaining duo, Dale and Wendy finally discover some of the terrible secrets of Maleybrough. Into the bargain, Joe and Wendy find some of their life´s problems solved for the better.