First published 1985
Barbara Waugh thought her daughter was gone forever. The brutal murder happened years ago. The grief never left, but the phone calls stopped. Then her daughter calls again. The voice sounds real. The words cut deep. Barbara knows her child is dead, yet she hears her speaking. The impossible call pulls Barbara into a nightmare world she never imagined existed. She discovers a realm where torture serves ritual purposes. Blood flows in ceremonies meant to transform participants. Initiations require acts that break the human spirit. Doors lock from the inside, trapping victims with their tormentors. Screams echo in soundproof rooms where no one can hear the agony. Barbara must navigate this landscape of organized cruelty to understand what connects her dead daughter to these horrors. The deeper she goes, the more she realizes that death might not end suffering. Some evils reach across the boundary between life and death to claim new victims.
Genres: mystery, horror, supernatural, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: supernatural-mystery, unreliable-narrator
272 pages · Paperback · Tor / Tom Doherty Associates [
Content warnings: abuse, gore, graphic-violence, torture