You know from the start something terrible is going to happen. You know from quite early on who is to blame. But you don´t know why, when and how, and you want to know! It´s a dark and sad story, gripping and unputdownable. ( )

a fabulous thriller ( )

A black and mysterious novel. I was so compelled I couldn't stop reading. It reminded me the Torcuato Luca's novel. Prepare to be afraid. ( )

This is a powerful psychological thriller of haunting suspense. It is set in a private boys school, Kirkston Abbey, where conformity and control are enforced through harsh rules and savage discipline. To 14-year-old Jonathan Palmer, it is a prison; a world in which he feels threatened and powerless. When he is offered the chance of escape, in the guise of an unexpected friendship, he accepts it gladly. The friendship grows into something dangerous as their games lose their innocence. In combining his frustrations with a nature that is far more intense and destructive than his own, Jonathan is unleashing forces more powerful than he can ever hope to control. Now, more than forty years later, journalist Tim Webber thinks he's found the key to uncovering the truth in the bleak winter term of 1954. Excellent first novel. ( )