“A complex and chilling tale of friends, family and the often murderous secrets that hide in the dark” from the award-winning author of Bone White (Robert McCammon, New York Times–bestselling author).

The Piper has come to take the children away . . .

In the fall of 1993, fifteen-year-old Angelo Mazzone sees his first dead body. The murder is linked to the Piper, the possible abductor of three other children—who haven’t been found—over the past few months.

Some people in town say the woods are haunted, but Angelo and his friends head in anyway, to search the darkness for a monster. What they find there will change who they are—and everything they once believed in . . .

“A frightening, thoroughly engaging read with a deeply moving series of narrative motifs running throughout, ones that needle the mind and tug at the heart in the best way . . . A triumph of suspense, an affectionate ode to adolescence and by far Ronald Malfi’s strongest effort to date.” —Horror Novel Reviews

“Malfi is a man of many voices, a sort of literary version of Mel Blanc (the ‘man of a thousand voices’), but all of his voices are captivating, though none of them quite the same. Horror and crime fans will find much to like here.” —Booklist