Haunting, enigmatic and suspenseful, Burt's second novel (after The Hole) is a tightly woven tale of psychological horror, in which two children shape and destroy their small world. Sophie and Matthew live in a large house in rural England with a distant, mentally ill mother and a father who comes and goes. The remoteness of both of their caretakers allows the children complete freedom to fill their days as they wish, usually with long rambling walks in the woods, digging in the nearby abandoned quarry and exploring abandoned farms. Sophie's extraordinary brilliance means she can easily manipulate the adults in her life—at school, on tests and at home. Over the course of six years—from the time Sophie is seven and Mattie five—Burt tantalizes the reader with unsettling glimpses of Sophie's cunning, disturbing plans and shows how Mattie follows Sophie's lead with the love and admiration of a younger sibling. Narrated in part by an adult Sophie and Mattie 20 years later, the novel cleverly shifts perspective more than once, leading up to an explosive series of final twists. Mattie is forced to see Sophie for who she was as a child and himself for the adult he has become. At the dark denouement, the reader will be tempted to start the book over again to see just how Burt wrought this ingenious tale. (July)
Forecast:Prolific as well as precocious, Burt wrote
The Hole at 18 and
Sophie at 19. Fans of William Golding and J.G. Ballard might profitably be steered to his novels.
