In a Massachusetts town, an evil wizard is about to come back from the
dead and a young hero must fight to stop him . . .
In the days of the Salem witch trials, the sleepy hamlet of Duston
Heights had just one practitioner of the dark arts: the notorious
necromancer Esdrias Blackleach. As the fever for witch hunting reached
its terrible peak, Blackleach was accused of using powerful black magic
against his fellow townsfolk. But just before he could be brought to
trial, he dropped dead, escaping justice forever. Or so it seemed . . .
Fast forward to the 1950s, the inquisitive young sleuth Johnny Dixon and
his mentor Professor Childermass are getting ready to donate a box of
Blackleach artifacts to the local museum when a descendant of the
sorcerer shows up and attempts to steal his ancestor's wooden hand. He
has a fiendish plan to raise the old necromancer from the dead, and only
Johnny and the professor can stop him and make the town safe from black
magic forever.
The Johnny Dixon stories, from the award-winning author of The House
with a Clock in Its Walls, have been acclaimed for their "believable
and likable characters" (The New York Times) and "spine-tingling"
supernatural adventure (Publishers Weekly).