The Prince Of Mist - Hardcover

Everybody's talking about Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind, and The Angel's Game, who returns with The Prince of Mist. This very scary ghost story stayed at the top of the Spanish book charts for two years and is now translated into English for the first time. The haunting tale is aimed at readers of all ages, so is one to share with the whole family. (GOOD HOUSEKEEPING - June 2010)

In this page-turner, a young hero finds himself in a house haunted by secrets he is fated to uncover - but at what cost? Magical, and even though I'm a grown-up, SCARY! (LAUREN LAVERNE GRAZIA MAGAZINE - 27.04.09)

Readers of all ages will find mystery, thrills, and nail-biting suspense - it has the force of Stephen King spiced with the subtlety of Neil Gaiman (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY - April 2010)

nine-year-old Max Carver sets out to rescue his nearest and dearest from the malevolent character who embroils his victims in sinister pacts. (SFX magazine - July 2010 issue)

The first book from the Shadow of the Wind author - published in English at last - is an atmospheric thriller following a young hero as he explores his new house in the country. Described as a cross between Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, it proves young adult fiction can be as gripping as the adult version. (TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT - 21.05.10)

Addictive page-turner with things that go bump in the night (ESSENTIALS MAGAZINE - July 2010)

Zafon mixes youthful romance, devilish pacts, salty seadogs, scary clowns and haunted shipwrecks with a generous hand, and you might not want to go diving again after reading this. (Suzi Feay FINANCIAL TIMES)

Add a locked wardrobe from which a black cat with a glittering stare emerges after the key turns by itself, a station clock that goes backwards and a dark spectre intent on drowning all three characters, and there's still enough to care most readers. (Nick Tucker THE INDEPENDENT - 25.06.10)

When the author wrote this story, he had in mind a book that would appeal to all ages.... That's the magic in the book for me, as the author has done just that. I was engrossed in every page and turned each one wanting more and more. (Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books.blogspot.com)

A brilliant old-time ghost story for an audience probably new to such dazzling characterisation and spookiness...
This is a first-time published author in complete control of his story. I didn't read this book - instead I swept over the incredibly visual film it mentally played in my head for three absorbing hours. It's a breathless rush of spookiness, with a firm punch to pack, as it evokes a dangerous, ethereal world, and does so almost perfectly. (The Bookbag)

Max Carver's father - a watchmaker and inventor - decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an old house that once belonged to a prestigious surgeon, Dr Richard Fleischmann. But the house holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind it is an overgrown garden full of statues surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. When he goes to investigate, Max finds that the statues seem to consist of a kind of circus troop with the large statue of a clown at its centre. Max has the curious sensation that the statue is beckoning to him. As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: they discover a box of old films belonging to the Fleischmanns; his sister has disturbing dreams and his other sister hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. They also discover the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man - an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach. During the dive, Max sees something that leaves him cold - on the old mast floats a tattered flag with the symbol of the six-pointed star. As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of the Prince of the Mists begins to emerge.