Description
Holland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other’s thoughts, but they couldn’t 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 twins’ father in a most unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry still hasn’t recovered from the shock of her husband’s gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland’s pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother’s actions.
Thomas Tryon’s 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.
About the Author
It was Noel Coward’s partner, Gertrude Lawrence, who encouraged Tom to try acting. He made his Broadway debut in 1952 in the chorus of the musicalWish You Were Here. He also worked in television at the time, but as a production assistant. In 1955, he moved to California to try his hand at the movies, and the next year made his film debut inThe Scarlet Hour(1956). Tom was cast in the title role of the Disney TV seriesTexas John Slaughter(1958) that made him something of a household name. He appeared in several horror and science fiction films:I Married a Monster from Outer Space(1958) andMoon Pilot(1962) and in westerns:Three Violent People(1956) andWinchester '73(1967). He was part of the all-star cast inThe Longest Day(1962), a film of the World War II generation, credited with saving 20th Century Fox Studios, after the disaster ofCleopatra. He considered his best role to be inIn Harm's Way(1965), which is also regarded as one of the better films about World War II.While filming the title role inThe Cardinal(1962), Tom suffered from Otto Preminger's Teutonic directing style and became physically ill. Nevertheless, Tom was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1963. He appeared with Marilyn Monroe in her final film,Something's Got to Give(1962), but the studio fired Monroe after three weeks, and the film was never finished. That experience, along with theCardinalordeal, left Tom wary of studio games and weary at waiting around for the phone to ring.After viewing the filmRosemary's Baby(1968), Tom was inspired to write his own horror novel, and in 1971 Alfred Knopf publishedThe Other. It became an instant bestseller and was turned into a movie in 1972, which Tom wrote and produced. Thereafter, despite occasional film and TV offers, Tom gave up acting to write fiction full-time. This he did eight to ten hours a day, with pencil, on legal-sized yellow tablets. Years later, he graduated to an IBM Selectric.The Otherwas followed byLady(1975), which concerns the friendship between an eight-year-old boy and a mysterious widow in 1930s New England. His bookCrowned Headsbecame an inspiration for the Billy Wilder filmFedora(1978), and a miniseries with Bette Davis was made from his novelHarvest Home(1978).All That Glitters(1986), a quintette of stories about thinly disguised Hollywood greats and near-greats followed.Night of the Moonbow(1989), tells of a boy driven to violence by the constant harassment he endures at a summer camp.Night Magic, about an urban street magician with wondrous powers, written shortly before his death in 1991, was posthumously published in 1995. The dust jackets and end papers of Tom's books, about which he took unusual care, are excellent examples of his gifts as an artist and graphic designer, further testimony to the breadth of his talents.
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