Product Description

Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding together with his friends as ' The Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 396 pages

My Weekly
"A meaty, involving drama which will catch you up in an emotional rollercoaster -- great reading"

Review
"A meaty, involving drama which will catch you up in an emotional rollercoaster -- great reading" (My Weekly )

"Very spine chilling... keeps you going right until the last page" (Amanda Ross )

Synopsis
Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding together with his friends as ' The Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

Customer Reviews

simply wonderful
Well i just finished this book this evening, and i cant stop thinking about it! And had it not been for my beloved Richard & Judy i probably wouldnt of ever heard of R.J Ellory or this amazing book so big thanks to them!

Ok, so my usual books are chick-lit but i have more serious books on my shelf for when i feel like been serious! i've had this book a while and always chose my chick-lit over it. but then i decided i needed something heavier. so i picked this out from my shelf not really expecting much, even though i'd seen the good reviews. As soon as i started reading i instantly thought it was a mistake to have bought this book, the first chapter wasnt brilliant and i thought it would be one of those pretentious, awful books where you get the feeling the author doesnt care whether you understand it or not. But i stayed with it, and by the second chapter things improved greatly, and it just got better and better from there.

Throught the book i grew so fond of Joseph and felt great sympathy for him. He is such a great central character. And i even felt like i knew the town and the people in it such was the great descriptive writing from R.J Ellory. And i was so excited to get to the end and find out who the killer was, and even though i was sure i knew who it was, i got it wrong and had the shock of my life. such a great twist. Infact, there were many great, unexpected things that happened in this book. The book ended very neatly too, and although i would of liked the killer to have been tortured a bit more, in hindsight, it was ok because the answers to all the questions i had in my head throught the book were answered for me.

I think of the first chapter, and how i wanted to put the book down forever, and i wonder how many people actually did do that, well if you did then go back and pick it up and keep reading!! i promise it will be worth it. A truly great book, i also have "city of lies" by the author, i'm hoping that's just as good too!

OUTSTANDING!
Anyone who likes To Kill A Mockingbird, READ THIS BOOK. I read it whilst in Italy and quickly became absorbed with the life of protagonist Joseph Vaughan, much like that of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird. It's so refreshing to read a book that discusses the consequences of a killers actions on society rather than the killer themselves. I would even go as far as to suggest that the identity of the killer is not the fundamental aspect of the book. Either way, this book is undoubtedly the best book I have read this year.

beautifully bleak
Finished this magnificent book today and the word that comes to mind is 'wow'.
It is certainly not an 'easy' or 'light' read and during the first few pages I almost gave up. Something made me carry on though, and by about page 20 I knew it was probably going to be something special.

To me, is it a smorgasboard of many other great novels. I was interested to read that another reviewer compared it to 'The Secret History - a comparison I would definetly agree with in terms of quality and style of writing (SH is a benchmark for me against which all novels are measured).
It is, at times, very depressing BUT don't let that put you off. No pain, no gain.

I had kind of guessed the twist about 3/4 through the book.

Brilliant