A Collection of Strangers

A family torn apart by tragedy becomes the victim of a merciless killer in this gripping thriller from the twentieth-century author of The Baxter Letters. Bad things have happened in the Stoddard household, but nothing as grim as what's to come. One day, young Davie gets a phone call, an anonymous voice threatening to do lewd and horrible things to his teenage sister unless he follows instructions. A little over a week later, another call, this one telling Davie to watch what his father does with his keys when he gets home at night-and to be ready to swipe them when asked. Briefly, Davie almost recognizes the voice, but then the moment passes. Gripped by terror, Davie doesn't know who to turn to. The recent tragic death of his three-year-old brother has isolated each member of his family in their own separate worlds. And now, someone dangerously close to them stands to gain from their fracture-unless Davie can summon a courage far beyond his years . . . Praise for Dolores Hitchens High-grade suspense. -San Francisco Chronicle on Stairway to an Empty Room/Terror Lurks in Darkness Dolores Hitchens wrote crime novels that were both tough and compassionate, with a sharp eye for the emotional scars that violence leaves. -MysteryTribune Almost unbearable suspense . . . Holds the reader to the last punctuation mark. -Greensboro News & Record on The Grudge