About the Book: Eleven-year-old Ollie, mourning her mother’s death, borrows a strange book from a woman by a river and discovers it tells of an ominous entity known as “the Smiling Man.” On a school field trip to a farm with hidden grave markers, the bus later breaks down and the children are warned to “avoid large places” as darkness creeps in. Ollie and two classmates must use quick thinking, trust and courage to survive and confront the evil that stalks them