Keeper of the Children

Eddie Benson is a typical middle-class father with a secure job, a home in suburban Philadelphia, and a seemingly happy family. For Benson life holds no fear or terror.

Then something unusual happens. One day his daughter, Renni, a normal, fun-loving fourteen-year-old, disappears. Soon after, Eddie finds her wandering the streets of Philadelphia with a band of children. Dressed in orange robes, they bear drums and tambourines and cymbals. Moving through the crowds, they dance and sing and proffer metal bowls for coins. The children refuse to return to their homes. The youngsters, their parents have learned, are living with a mysterious Tibetan monk with strange, otherworldly powers.

What follows is a series of bone-chilling incidents, each more violent than the last, all inexplicable. Only Eddie Benson will not abandon hope. And to rescue his child, Eddie must run a terrible risk, one that could cost him his life and his soul. What Eddie Benson finally decides to do brings this novel to a stunning denouement. Eddie must become engaged in an extraordinary combat, battle that no other human has ever fought before. For all of us, his act is the ultimate act of courage.

William H. Hallahan (1925-2018) was an American author, raised in Brooklyn. He served three years in the United States Navy, then attended Temple University in Philadelphia where he obtained degrees in journalism and English.

This edition of Keeper of the Children includes a new introduction by Michael Saler, photographs and old book covers, and a bonus essay and bonus short story.

Edition Specifications:

• Limited to 400 signed copies.
• Includes a new introduction and bonus stories and essays.
• Signed by Michael Saler and David Ho, with a facsimile signature by William H. Hallahan.
• Dustjacket, endpaper, frontispiece, and interior illustrations by David Ho.
• Illustrated endpapers.
• Top-edge stain.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, bound in Brillianta black cloth.
• Full dustjacket illustration pasted down on front board.
• Smyth-sewn binding.
• Original book price: $70.
• Book size 5¼ × 8¾ inches.
• Number of pages: 256.
• Published April 2022.