From Publishers Weekly Right from the hair-raising start of this stunning debut， readers will know that something awful is going to happen at the British boys' boarding school， Kirkston Abbey. Thanks to Redmond's masterfully subtle foreshadowing， a brooding sense of impending disaster is maintained throughout his gripping suspense thriller. Set in the late '50s and bookended by a pair of scenes in which a reporter introduces and closes the story， the narrative centers on loner Richard Rokeby. "Arrestingly good looking，" sharp-tongued， smart and aloof， Rokeby unnerves schoolmasters and students alike. James Wheatley， campus tough guy， will do anything to impress and befriend Rokeby， but Rokeby gives his friendship to sensitive Jonathan Palmer instead. Rokeby and Palmer recognize an indefinable "something" that bonds them intensely， and during one school holiday， they play an angry little game on a Ouija board. The details given to the reader are scant at first， but the eventual violent results are terrifyingly vivid. Rokeby becomes possessive of Palmer， domineering and jealous， evolving into an amoral monster and coolly rattling all the skeletons in the closets of Kirkston Abbey's faculty and students. Redmond tantalizes with his miserly description of those secrets， adding to the novel's cumulative power; an aura of tangible menace hisses behind the narrative's unfolding like a slow fuse heading for dynamite. There's a dark fairy tale at the core of the mystery (both Palmer and Rokeby have serious stepmother issues) and a kind of ethical dilemma for readers， who will not know whom to root for as the villains and heroes mutate and shift positions. The climax is refreshingly nonformulaic. Readers will welcome a writer bold enough to leave some things to the imagination， especially when that audacity is accompanied by the finesse Redmont displays here. $150，000 ad/promo. (Sept.) FYI: London lawyer Redmond's novel has been published in the U.K. as The Wishing Game. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal The lives of four British schoolboys are drastically altered when one of them befriends the school rebel， a young man consumed by rage whose only joy seems to be outsmarting and humiliating those around him. The two boys begin to play with a Ouija board， which unleashes an evil power and apparently gives them the ability to learn the exploitable secrets of those around them. While it paints a vivid and harrowing picture of life at a claustrophobic British boys' school， complete with hazing， harassment， and homosexuality， this book never quite gets off the ground. Certain crucial details are omitted， such as the origin of the evil power or exactly how the boys are able to discover the skeletons in everyone's closets. Regrettably， just as the action picks up， first novelist Redmond begins to tell the story from the point of view of another boy， an outsider to the evil doingsAa narrative strategy that does little for what could have been a fairly exciting conclusion. Recommended only for larger libraries.ALisa Bier， Albuquerque P.L.， NM Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews