A young recluse, believing in the occult power of magic, will do anything to keep her family together as they grow apart When Dolly's mother-her only friend-dies, twenty-three-year-old Dolly becomes a second mom to her younger brother, Pup. Socially isolated and booze-addled, Dolly believes that Pup's occult power, and a talisman he's made for her, will give her the life she wants. But as Pup grows older and her father takes a new wife, her carefully constructed home begins to fall apart-and those around her begin to die. Is it coincidence, magic, or murder? With careful plotting and unnerving ease, Rendell delves into the inner life of an outcast.
