The Wishing Game - Hardcover

Redmond, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340750162 ISBN 13: 9780340750162

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999

Synopsis

Something terrible happened at Kirkston Abbey school for boys during the bleak winter term of 1954. Now, more than forty years later, journalist Tim Webber is determined to find out the truth. He uncovers a disturbing tale of a seemingly-innocuous friendship between two fourteen-year-old boys who embark on series of psychological power games which escalate with increasingly unnatural and sinister results.

About this title

Review:

There are particular ironies involved in knowing that a story is going to end in misery and having to watch the detailed working out. We know from the beginning that terrible things happened at Kirkston Abbey, a 1950s public school, things so terrible that they gave a bishop a nervous breakdown--but by the time they actually happen we have learned to care about the people they happen to. As the narrator explains, it all begins with an act of kindness--aloof Rokeby helps sensitive Palmer with his Latin translation; two loners find a friendship that gets them through the bullying of boys and teachers. Those to whom evil is done, however, do evil in return, particularly once they get hold of a Ouija board, and what starts as resistance to oppression becomes a nightmare of vindictiveness and arbitrary destruction. Redmond has a real sense of the claustrophobic--the school is a Bad Place and the decade in which it exists is another--and is good on the social dynamics of scapegoating and bullying. This is an impressive first novel partly because it trades so successfully in ambiguities and partly because it is so painful. This is a novel about corruption, and a terrifying one. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

I could not stop reading it, it is without doubt one of the most powerful and haunting stories I have ever read (Sarah Williams, Hammicks)

Patrick Redmond has penned a searing tale of terror that leaves the reader breathless with excitement (Publishing News)

A tremendous read: I enjoyed it very much (Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller)

Absolutely fantastic (Fiona Kennedy, Tesco)

The passions and power games of adolescent boys in the "pressure cooker" environment of a boarding school gives this skilful novel of suspense an extra edge of emotional torment (Peter Donaldson, Red Lion Books, Colchester)

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0340750162
• ISBN 13: 9780340750162
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 356