Lost Boy Lost Girl

Lost Boy Lost Girl
Peter Straub

A new psychological thriller from the co-author of the massive international No 1 bestseller BLACK HOUSE.From the ferocious imagination of Peter Straub springs a nerve-shredding new chiller about the persistence of evil.A woman kills herself for no apparent reason. A week later, her teenage son disappears. The vanished boy's uncle, Tim Underhill, returns to his home town of Millhaven to discover what he can. A madman known as the Sherman Park Killer has been haunting the neighbourhood, but Underhill believes that Mark's obsession with a local abandoned house is at the root of his disappearance. He fears that Mark came across its last and greatest secret – a lost girl, one who has coaxed Mark deeper and deeper into her mysterious domain. Only by following in their footsteps will Underhill uncover the shocking truth.

PETER STRAUB

Lost Boy Lost Girl

Copyright (#ulink_8566a96f-5767-5e1e-b151-fc67f95c01da)

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters, with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures and public figures appear, the situations, incidents and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers 2003

First published in the USA by

Random House 2003

Copyright © Peter Straub 2003

Peter Straub asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007142309

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN 9780007387960

Version: 2016-08-10

Dedication (#u22bc1ae9-9755-504e-905a-fdcda7358368)

For Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee

Epigraph (#u22bc1ae9-9755-504e-905a-fdcda7358368)

There was set before me a mighty hill

And long days I climbed

Through regions of snow.

When I had before me the summit-view,

It seemed that my labours

Had been to see gardens

Lying at impossible distances.

– STEPHEN CRANE

What was at stake here, he thought, was the solidity of the world.

– TIMOTHY UNDERHILL, The Divided Man

Contents

Cover (#uaa117da1-eeef-5ae7-ad1a-5840b86c66c1)

Title Page (#u95498121-b942-5445-864d-7f37324f6f37)

Dedication (#u37abed7b-c3dc-5a40-978e-8a157524859a)

Epigraph (#ub01d26fe-ed0c-5f74-b119-0ae9501d48d0)

Part One THE DEAD MOTHER (#u5290d3df-cfd7-5de7-af79-84ea42efaebd)

1 (#uf67bf722-e729-5937-9623-5da72e7fe4b1)

2 (#u0a2c1488-15e0-51c4-a5a1-e8b87d8a11c7)

3 (#u28dd44ab-d490-5eea-9cd3-d58b07f6408a)

Part Two THE HOUSE ON MICHIGAN STREET (#uddc31aa1-213a-59eb-a7eb-ceb881c16b9b)

4 (#u7128813b-af3b-53cf-9852-60cbb81119c9)

5 (#uc2f850cc-90ac-5a3a-8c54-0d09b127235e)

6 (#u61f80022-155e-54a6-bdc0-d2c4e54b8d00)

7 (#ufe3e700c-81b7-5e48-bba7-a135a116305d)

8 (#litres_trial_promo)

9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three A RIP IN THE FABRIC (#litres_trial_promo)