While on a boating holiday, Scott Carey is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spr
ay. A few weeks later, following a series of medical examinations, he can no lon
ger deny the extraordinary truth. Not only is he losing weight, he is also short
er than he was.
Scott Carey has begun to shrink. Richard Matheson's novel fol
lows through its premise with remorseless logic, with Carey first attempting to
continue some kind of normal life and later having left human contact behind, ha
ving to survive in a world where insects and spiders are giant adversaries. And
even that is only a stage on his journey into the unknown.
