On the first day at her new school, Dinah realizes something is horribly wrong. The children are strangely neat and well-behaved; they even work during playtime. What makes them behave this way? The answer is fear, but what is the secret of the Headmaster's control? Recently voted one of the top 20 books of the last 20 years, this is the first title in the best-selling series which inspired the top-rating TV series.