They were the perfect family. He was the perfect stranger. They should never
have let him in . . . A brilliantly assured psychological thriller from the
international bestselling author of The Wishing Game.
Ronnie Sidney is perfect, his mother's little ray of sunshine. He can do no wrong, although sometimes he wants to, especially to people who look down on him and his mother, and their drab existence. And if bad things should happen to them - why, it's nothing to do with him. He's a good boy. Everybody says so.Susan Ramsey was once perfect too, cherished by her parents, a popular girl at school. A nice girl in a nice home. Then her dad died and her mum remarried. The way her stepfather cherished her wasn't very nice at all.So then they meet, Ronnie and Susan, become teenage sweethearts. If the world wasn't so wrong they'd be the perfect couple. But Ronnie can set that right. He's a good boy. Everybody says so.
Kirkston Abbey is no place for the weak. Standing stark against the Norfolk sky, its aim is conformity and control; its rules harsh, its discipline savage. 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. But all is not as it seems. 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. In the bleak winter term of 1954, something terrible happened at Kirkston Abbey school for boys. Now, more than forty years later, journalist Tim Webber thinks he's found the key to uncovering the truth. But is he prepared to live with the consequences . . .?