The Treasure Box

A reclusive millionaire's hasty marriage leads to chilling revelations in the renowned author's “enthrallingly entertaining” supernatural horror novel (Booklist).Software engineer Quentin Fears was only 10 when his beloved sister died in a car accident. Since then, he withdrew from the world into books and machines. Though he's made millions with his software, he avoids companionship at all cost—until a rare outing to a party brings him face to face with his dream woman, Madeleine. She's smart, beautiful, and as naive to the world's ways as he is. They marry in a matter of weeks. Their relationship seems perfect—until Quentin meets Madeleine's cantankerous, eccentric family. At their rambling mansion in upstate New York, Quentin learns of an ancient family secret to which Madeleine holds the key. Only Quentin can stop her from unleashing an ageless malevolence that will rule the world. But to do so, he must do what seems impossible -- step outside himself into the world he has avoided.

A shattering childhood tragedy left Quentin Fears devastated and unable to cope with the world and its citizens. It didn't, however, prevent him from making millions through brilliant investments. And now the enigmatic recluse has experienced the extraordinarily unexpected: love at first sight.

But a whirlwind courtship and marriage to Madeleine — beautiful, witty, and equally ill-at-ease with reality — is bringing Quentin something other than the bliss he anticipated, for now he must meet his new wife's family.

A bizarre, dysfunctional collection of extreme characters, they are guarding a secret both shocking and terrifying — as is Madeleine herself. And suddenly Quentin Fears must prevent his dream woman from unleashing an ageless malevolence intent on ruling the world.

BookList

Card's second departure from science fiction, the genre in which he's a perennial best-seller, is, like the very successful Lost Boys (1992), essentially a ghost story and a better one than its predecessor because Card doesn't weigh it down with Mormon family values preaching. Instead, he inserts a smidgen of his religion by making his protagonist, bachelor millionaire Quentin Fears, a 34-year-old virgin. Actually, Quentin's chastity, credible and sympathetically portrayed, is rather refreshing. Card also makes it the vehicle for subtle satire of the American obsession with sex as well as the Achilles' heel whereby Quentin is bowled over when he meets the mysterious blond stunner Madeleine Cryer at a Washington, D.C., society party. Not the least of Madeleine's attractions for Quentin is her resemblance to his sister, who died when Quentin was 11 and to whom he was devoted. It turns out that Madeleine is not what she seems, or rather, is only seeming, as Quentin discovers after he meets her family in a creepy old Hudson River mansion--a haunted house, perhaps? Yes, but not merely haunted. Many readers will hear echoes of Robert Marasco's superb haunted-house thriller, Burnt Offerings (1973), and of Hitchcock's classic film about romantic obsession, Vertigo, in Card's effort, which, although not as good as either, is enthrallingly entertaining, nevertheless.

A shattering childhood tragedy left Quentin Fears devastated and unable to cope with the world and its citizens. It didn't, however, prevent him from making millions through brilliant investments, and now the enigmatic recluse has experienced the extraordinarily unexpected: love at first sight. But a whirlwind courtship and marriage to Madeleine -- beautiful, witty, and equally ill-at-ease with reality -- is bringing Quentin something other than the bliss he anticipated, for now he must meet his new wife's family. A bizarre, dysfunctional collection of extreme characters, they are guarding a secret both shocking and terrifying -- as is Madeleine herself. And suddenly Quentin Fears must prevent his dream woman from unleashing an ageless malevolence intent on ruling the world. Wealthy recluse Quentin Fears meets the woman of his dreams on a rare outing to a party and the relationship seems perfect until he learns she holds the key to a dirty family secret and only he can stop her from unleashing an ageless malevolence upon the world. The naive bachelor makes the discovery when his bride, a Washington society woman, takes him to her family estate, where he comes upon her grave Quentin Fears never told his parents the last thing his sister Lizzy said to him before they pulled the plug on her and let her die.