The Piper

Horror fans will best appreciate this solid paranormal thriller from Shamus Award–winner Hightower (Satan’s Lambs). Recently divorced Olivia James is preparing to leave California with her eight-year-old daughter, Teddy, for her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., when she receives a phone call—from her brother, Chris, who has just died. Chris, who says he “had to pay the piper,” warns Olivia that the “Mister Man”— their childhood name for the bogeyman who carried off their sister, Emily, 25 years earlier—is after her. Once Olivia and Teddy are settled in their new home, a “somebody” Teddy calls Duncan Lee starts to spook the girl amid such mysterious manifestations as inexplicably falling boxes and ceiling plaster. Olivia gets help from a visiting friend, her ex-husband, and her former cop boyfriend, but that’s not enough to prevent things from turning deadly. Will Olivia be able to save Teddy from an evil entity named Decan Ludde? Few will be surprised by the upbeat outcome. (May)