The Boy at the Keyhole (Original)
Stephen Giles
(Author)
Description
"A fiendishly efficient, gorgeously written, nasty little thrill ride of a psychological thriller. I couldn't put it down, and it's entirely possible that I'll never sleep again. A true tour-de-force of a debut novel."--Lyndsay Faye, author of The Gods of Gotham and Jane Steele For fans of Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters and Daphne du Maurier, an electrifying debut about a boy left alone in his family's English estate with a housekeeper he suspects has murdered his mother Nine-year-old Samuel lives alone in a once-great estate in Surrey with the family's housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother has been abroad for months, purportedly tending to her late husband's faltering business. She left in a hurry one night while Samuel was sleeping and did not say goodbye. Beyond her sporadic postcards, Samuel hears nothing from his mother. He misses her dearly and maps her journey in an atlas he finds in her study. Samuel's life is otherwise regulated by Ruth, who runs the house with an iron fist. Only she and Samuel know how brutally she enforces order. As rumors in town begin to swirl, Samuel wonders whether something more sinister is afoot. Perhaps his mother did not leave but was murdered--by Ruth. Artful, haunting and hurtling toward a psychological showdown, The Boy at the Keyhole is an incandescent debut about the precarious dance between truth and perception, and the shocking acts that occur behind closed doors.Product Details
Price
$25.99
Publisher
Hanover Square Press
Publish Date
September 04, 2018
Pages
304
Dimensions
5.8 X 1.0 X 8.5 inches | 0.9 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781335652928
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Stephen Giles is the author behind the Ivy Pocket children's series, which has been translated into twenty-five languages. He lives in Australia. The Boy at the Keyhole is his first work for adults.
Reviews
"A fiendishly efficient, gorgeously written, nasty little thrill ride of a psychological thriller. I couldn't put it down, and it's entirely possible that I'll never sleep again. A true tour-de-force of a debut novel."--Lyndsay Faye, author of The Gods of Gotham and Jane Steele
"The Boy at the Keyhole is sinister and tight, amusing and intense, an emotional story of a sweet boy in a precarious psychological place. A fun and wicked read that is impossible to put down!"--Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
"At the heart of this gripping, perfectly paced story is a lonely nine-year-old boy consigned to the often brutal control of his absent mother's housekeeper. A relentless, claustrophobic tale about the constancy and opacity of love, where the truth must be terrible in order to be believed."--Charles Lambert, author of The Children's Home
"Equal parts pastoral and piqued, The Boy at the Keyhole is a story that rises above its own devices and transcends the sum of its parts. The characters sink through the cracks of your mind, straight to your soul. And the questions herein will burn you to bits. You'll talk about this book with everyone you meet. It's that exciting."--Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box
"Nightmarish...so adeptly constructed and controlled that Ruth becomes a chilling study in ambiguity. Like Laird Koenig's cult classic The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane, this novel dramatically tests the limits of youthful innocence when faced with adult mendacity."--Publishers Weekly
"A psychological puzzle with its roots in Du Maurier and other gothic fiction...Giles creates a mystery rife with slowly unspooling tension...Subtle and haunting."--Kirkus Reviews
"A neat little thriller with enough red herrings and clever ambiguities to keep the pages turning on the way to a disturbing, surprise ending."--Booklist
"Conjures a surreal, nightmarish world...captivating."--AARP
"A modern Hitchcock...marvelous."--Memphis Flyer
"The Boy at the Keyhole is sinister and tight, amusing and intense, an emotional story of a sweet boy in a precarious psychological place. A fun and wicked read that is impossible to put down!"--Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
"At the heart of this gripping, perfectly paced story is a lonely nine-year-old boy consigned to the often brutal control of his absent mother's housekeeper. A relentless, claustrophobic tale about the constancy and opacity of love, where the truth must be terrible in order to be believed."--Charles Lambert, author of The Children's Home
"Equal parts pastoral and piqued, The Boy at the Keyhole is a story that rises above its own devices and transcends the sum of its parts. The characters sink through the cracks of your mind, straight to your soul. And the questions herein will burn you to bits. You'll talk about this book with everyone you meet. It's that exciting."--Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box
"Nightmarish...so adeptly constructed and controlled that Ruth becomes a chilling study in ambiguity. Like Laird Koenig's cult classic The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane, this novel dramatically tests the limits of youthful innocence when faced with adult mendacity."--Publishers Weekly
"A psychological puzzle with its roots in Du Maurier and other gothic fiction...Giles creates a mystery rife with slowly unspooling tension...Subtle and haunting."--Kirkus Reviews
"A neat little thriller with enough red herrings and clever ambiguities to keep the pages turning on the way to a disturbing, surprise ending."--Booklist
"Conjures a surreal, nightmarish world...captivating."--AARP
"A modern Hitchcock...marvelous."--Memphis Flyer
