They expected a relaxing holiday. They got a trip to hell.

The Clarke family—Penny, Rod and their two young boys—are delighted when they are offered a holiday in a high-end guest house on a remote and beautiful island.

Their hostess Anna seems like a lovely woman. But what the Clarkes don’t realise is that this is no random invitation, that Anna has carefully selected the family to satisfy her own sinister agenda.

Penny soon begins to sense there’s something off about Anna. She often speaks about her husband and son, but is it odd that they are both away? And that Anna seems perfectly content to be alone in this isolated place?

And then there’s the way she looks at Penny’s boys—as if she's sizing up chickens for the slaughter.

Penny grows increasingly uneasy and begins to do a bit of digging, which leads to a horrifying discovery. She finally realises who Anna is, and then she knows exactly why they’ve been invited to the island. She also knows that if she and her family are ever going to leave, they’ll have to fight for their lives... and find the answer to one terrifying question: how far would you go for the people you love?

The Lost Boy is a gripping psychological thriller from the author of The Stepson and The Child Who Never Was.