NYRB Classics presents the landmark psychological horror novel about 13-year-old twins living in a bucolic New England townтАФone good and the other very, very evil.
тАЬA whirlpool of Oh-My-God horror.тАЭ тАФIra Levin, author of RosemaryтАЩs Baby
Holland and Niles Perry are identical 13-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each otherтАЩs thoughts, but they couldnтАЩt be more different. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes parents proud.
The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled centuries ago, and as it happens, the extended clan has gathered at its ancestral farm this summer to mourn the death of the twinsтАЩ father in a most unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry still hasnтАЩt recovered from the shock of her husbandтАЩs gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and HollandтАЩs pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brotherтАЩs actions.
Thomas TryonтАЩs best-selling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. It is a landmark of psychological horror that is a worthy descendent of the books of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Patricia Highsmith.
тАЬ. . . will doubtless become one of the classics of horror tales, comparable to The Turn of the Screw.тАЭ тАФDorothy B. Hughes, Los Angeles Times