In this chilling, seamlessly-plotted thriller, British detective Jack Caffery must find a dangerous mental patient on the looseâbefore he can kill again . . .
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The Beechway High Secure Unit in Bristol, England, has a storied pastâfirst as a nineteenth-century workhouse, then a poorhouse for the homeless, and now as a psychiatric hospital. With that troubled history come superstitions like the Maude, believed to be the ghost of a sadistic workhouse matron.
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But while some of the patients and staff think the Maude is behind a series of unexplained episodes of self-harm amongst the wardâs patients, nursing coordinator AJ LeGrande thinks they might be the work of an all too human horrorâa homicidal patient who was released back into the public in error.
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Calling on Det. Jack Caffery, LeGrande hopes his investigation will reveal whatâs truly been going on inside and outside the hospitalâs walls. But what Caffery discovers about former patient Isaac Handel is beyond anyoneâs imagining.
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âEnough evil to keep readers awake long after the cases are solved . . . Rich psychological portraits [and] a compelling mystery.â âLos Angeles Times
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âDipping into Poppet when the house was silent and the rain was spattering against the windows probably wasnât a good idea: The book oozes sinisterness from the first page . . . [Its] high-wire tension . . . never wavers.â âEntertainment Weekly
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