Some things never die. Wherever there is a hill big enough to conquer, there will always be someone vying to be king of the hill. Robert Lee "Boo" Taylor should know for it seems as if he's fought some kind of battle for as long as he can remember while living as a boy in Sweetpatch Island, South Carolina. Returning for his father's funeral brings him back to the land of his childhood, as well as the mysteries, the ghosts and the boogeymen he once thought were long gone. Even with its modern golf courses, hotels and marinas, Sweetpatch is still a place where superstition and tradition walk hand in hand like young lovers from different sides of the track.

At the age of 13, Boo witnessed the brutal slaying of a young child. As the adopted son of the only white physician around, he was supposed to be akin to royalty. His mother certainly believed so, leaving him to fend for himself. It was Laylee Colebriar, the not so typical housekeeper of the Taylors, who became his surrogate mother. "She was made of cinnamon and molasses, burnt wood, rusted bedsprings, pine soap, cypress hides. Her dress was the rag she used to mop the floors." And her magic went many generations back, magic she used to protect Boo and his chosen companions, such as Gossie, his first and only true love.

There are dark powers still wandering this land, powerful trouble that Boo seems destined to stir up, no matter which path he chooses. Shadows best left undisturbed awaken, love once lost returns and answers to questions better left unasked are answered. From the ever consuming fires of bigotry that burn down church and school, to the Beast and his witchy widowed bride, the curse lives on. Is there any hope that the island's curse and its historic ghosts can be put to rest for good?

Gothic with a drawling sense of Southern style, this haunting and lyrical literary treasure lingers like an old moving memory long after the story is put down. Mr. Fad has created a masterpiece of epic proportions, one destined to become a classic for years to come. A vast array of colorful characters move the reader forward through pages filled with legends and lore. His characters live and breathe, love and hate, and are tortured by ghosts from within and without. Emotions and visual imagery move the plot forward, while the mystery itself is doled out in fragments here and there like bait to a hungry fish. As soon as one mystery is solved, another piece is dangled just within reach. The prose itself is a compelling enough reason to give this book a read. And yet, it is a story full of nuance, begging to be read again and again; sharing new treasures with each literary wave coming to shore. Even though it has a staggering 656 page count, I couldn't put it down from beginning to end.