The Stand (tv Tie-in)

 FIRST CAME THE VIRUS. AND THEN THE DREAMS... A man escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out over 99 percent of the world"'s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge - Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the "'dark man"', the apostate of death, the warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. Now the survivors must choose between them - and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity. Stephen King"'s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil is a classic for our times. "'A masterpiece"' - Guardian "'His work plumbs with unnerving accuracy, the hopes and fears of an entire nation"' - Observer