The Piper

A devoted mother must confront a horrifying family curse in this “genuinely frightening . . . ghostly thriller” from a Shamus Award–winning author (Booklist).
 
Eager to restart her life, divorcee Olivia James has moved back with her daughter Teddy to the Tennessee home where she grew up. When she receives a disturbing phone call just after midnight, she immediately recognizes her brother’s voice. But there’s a problem: Chris died nine weeks ago. And his warnings of The Piper, an imaginary boogeyman who played on their childhood fears, fills Olivia with dread. So does an admission from Teddy. The child has made an unsettling new acquaintance no one else can see.
 
But when another mysterious death claims someone close to home, and Teddy vanishes, Olivia must finally confront a terror she’s been running from all her life: a very real and malevolent spirit that has been dragging her family, one by one, to hell. What she discovers is a “nightmare that will keep you awake till the last page, and maybe even afterward” (Kirkus Reviews).