The darkness with a smile in it. Something is killing the children of Lac de Thé, a tiny Quebec town. No-one sees it. It leaves no evidence. The only suspect is a character from a centuries-old folk tale, and the only safety appears to depend on following the story’s ancient rule: all children must be indoors at home by seven o’clock. Now, a mysterious government agent has summoned Adam Godwinson, former priest and book dealer, to help bring an end to the deaths, but the consequences of his last brush with the unthinkable lie heavily on him, and it may be Adam who needs rescuing most of all if anything is going to be done about Bonhomme Sept-Heures.