The Wishing Game(1999)

Patrick Redmond

In the bleak winter term of 1954 something terrible happens at Kirkston Abbey School for Boys. Forty years later a journalist hovers near the truth, buried long ago by the panicked authorities.

Kirkston Abbey is no place for the weak: its rules are harsh and its discipline savage. So the struggling Jonathan Palmer cannot believe his luck when Richard Rokeby - tough, handsome, aloof - befriends him.

But Rokeby's possessive friendship is suffocating and, what starts out as an innocent game amongst friends, takes a shocking turn as Palmer finds himself powerless to stop Rokeby from unleashing a horrifying fate on them all.

A brilliantly clever psychological thriller, The Wishing Game launched Redmond to his bestseller status.