When eleven-year-old Brian Pankhurst has to stay with his grandparents hes not exactly enthusiastic. He barely knows them after all & theyre a little strange. Theyre stranger than he realises in fact. Very soon after he arrives at their ancient house Brian starts to feel that something isnt right. Why has someone sent his granddad a completely blank letter? Why dont people who go in to the local bookshop ever seem to come out again? What does his granddad mean when he says Brians father wasnt really an accountant? Then Brian wakes in the middle of the night & finds hes going to have to adjust to three things very quickly: magic is real monsters are real & he & his family are in terrible danger...