Suspecting that her husband had been abusing her son, Marshall Madsion's wife commits suicide, knowing she could not live with the memory, and her children would be taken away from their father. In reality Marshall had been converting his son into a vampire, like himself, and promises to return for Thad. This story is unconvincing, and although a unique idea, Williamson gets too caught up in trying to suprise the reader, and forgets to get on with the story. Williamson takes the easy way out in ending the book, by killing off both Thad and Marshall, leaving the whole story unresolved, with far too many questions left unanswered.
