Publisher's Synopsis
The Dead List by Stephen Williams
Be careful what you have wished for because it is about to come true Michael Morgan's sixteenth year was going to be a memorable time for them all. The problems of adolescence should have been enough of a battle for Michael but he is about to confront a new andvicious terror. The only child of a professional couple who are locked in an adulterous marriage, he begins a relationshipwith a divorced neighbour to escape from horrific visions that have taken control of his mind and thrive on his fear...a fear bred by guilt. He is afraid now that his mind has somehow breathed life into the shadows and the horror of his dreamsis real after all. The month of November is fast approaching and the parish priest has asked his congregation for written lists of deceasedrelatives and friends - the November List of the Dead - that they might pray for the release of souls from Purgatory.Michael has no one to add to the List and is consumed by guilt because he will not be able to take part in this annual religiousceremony. His innocence is seized upon by an evil Purgatorial soul that would never have been included in any NovemberDead List, one that would never have been released from torment on Judgement Day. Returning to the world of the living on Michael's thread of innocent guilt, Jacob Robertson takes on a terrible form and embarksupon a wave of brutal assaults and murders. A city is plunged into terror from the horror of this unknown serial killer, a teenagerbelieves he is going insane and all men fall under the net of suspicion. Michael sees his November List of the Dead growingat an alarming rate. Unknown to him, Jacob decided that as a reward for allowing him back into this world, Michael will have thenames he needs for the List... and then proposes to take the boy as his own reward for services rendered. What happens when Michael realises that his wishes are coming true? How can one boy defeat a paranormal horror? And will hebe in time to save the rest of his friends? The language of The Dead List is brutal and coarse. Adolescence is a violent timethat rapes the innocence of childhood and fear reigns supreme. The novel depicts this loss of innocence as the child enters the livingpurgatory of adulthood because Michael's fear is not simply a fear of death and what lies beyond the shadow, it is the fear of maturity, the fear of life itself.
