Night Child

by Alan Scholefield

Description

In this taut psychological thriller, Alan Scholefield displays his talent for powerful writing and mesmerizing storytelling, for which The New Yorker has compared him to Robert Louis Stevenson and other masters of the British adventure story. Set in one of London's poshest neighborhoods where secrets are hidden deep below the elegant surface, Night Child is the story of the murders of an elderly woman and her middle-aged daughter. At first the double murder appears to be the work of a show more startled burglar, but the job was so meticulously executed that the only thing the police know for sure is that the killer knew exactly what he was doing. There are no clues, no motives, and no witnesses - except a mute six-year-old boy held captive for years in horrifying conditions by the victims. The child is the only link the police have to the murder, and so the investigation falls into the hands of the child's psychiatrist, who must get him to talk before a third murder is committed. Any expression from the child is a potential clue: his horror at the six o'clock news, his delight in green pens, and especially his obsessive, repetitive drawings. Slowly, the doctor is able to assemble the dark psychic puzzle, and the result is as lethal as it is shocking. Chilling and thoroughly fascinating, Night Child enthralls from the very first page to its satisfying conclusion. show less