About this item
In the quiet suburb of Harting Farms, the weekly crime blotter usually consists of graffiti or the occasional bout of mailbox baseball. But in the fall of 1993, children begin vanishing and one is found dead. Newspapers call him the Piper because he has come to take the children away. But there are darker names for him, too . . .Vowing to stop the Piper’s reign of terror, five boys take up the search. Their teenage pledge turns into a journey of self-discovery . . . and a journey into the darkness of their own hometown. On the twilit streets of Harting Farms, everyone is a suspect. And any of the boys might be the Piper’s next victim.
About the Author
Ronald Malfi is the bestselling, award-winning author of many novels and novellas in the horror, mystery, and thriller genres. In 2011, his novel, , was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best novel by the Horror Writers Association, and also won a gold IPPY award. His most recent novel, (2021) , about a man who learns a dark secret about his wife after she's killed, has received stellar reviews, including a starred review from , and has said, "Malfi impresses in this taut, supernaturally tinged mystery. .. and sticks the landing with a powerful denouement. There's plenty here to enjoy. " His most recent novels, (2021) and (2022) , tackle themes of grief and loss, and of the effects of childhood trauma and alcoholism, respectively. Both books have been critically praised, with calling a "standout" book of the year. These novels were followed by (2022) , a collection of four subtly-linked novellas about haunted books and the power of the written word. received a starred review from , which called the book a "wonderfully meta collection. ..vibrantly imagined," and that "Malfi makes reading about the perils of reading a terrifying delight. "Among his most popular works is , a coming-of-age thriller set in the '90s, wherein five teenage boys take up the hunt for a child murderer in their hometown of Harting Farms, Maryland. In interviews, Malfi has expressed that this is his most autobiographical book to date. In 2015, this novel was awarded the Beverly Hills International Book Award for best suspense novel. It has been optioned several times for film. (2017) , about a man searching for his lost twin brother in a haunted Alaskan mining town, was touted as "an elegant, twisted, gripping slow-burn of a novel that burrows under the skin and nestles deep," by , and has also been optioned for television by Fox21/Disney and Amazon Studios. His novels (2015) and (2016) explore broken families forced to endure horrific and extraordinary circumstances, which has become the hallmark for Malfi's brand of intimate, lyrical horror fiction. His earlier works, such as (2007) and (2008) explored characters with lost or confused identities, wherein Malfi experimented with the ultimate unreliable narrators. He maintained this trend in his award-winning novel, (2011) , which the author has suggested contains "multiple endings for the astute reader."His more "monstery" novels, such as (2010) and (2012) still resonate with his inimitable brand of literary cadence and focus on character and story over plot. Both books were highly regarded by fans and reviewers in the genre. A bit of a departure, Malfi published the crime drama in 2009, based on the true exploits of his own father, a former Secret Service agent. The book was optioned several times for film.Ronald Malfi was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1977, the eldest of four children, and
