What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could give a toy a heart? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that?<br> <br>From the moment that the circus boy, Mathias, takes a small roll of paper from the dying conjuror, his fate is sealed. For on it is the key to a terrifying secret, and there are those who would kill him rather than have it told.<br> <br>Pursued by the sinister Dr. Leiter with his exquisite doll and malevolent dwarf, preyed on by the circus master and his vicious painted wife, Mathias is drawn into a relentless nightmare. A nightmare that will lead him to the Toymaker, and to a knife as cruel as frost.<br> <br>A relentlessly dark and sinister tale of a young boy's living nightmare, this debut novel will send shivers down your spine and will haunt you long after the final page. With the atmosphere of Philip Pullman's <i>I Was a Rat!</i>, this is a brilliantly frightening tale from an exciting new literary talent.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
