Secrets bring terror, and the result of terror lasts for a very long time. It doesn't go away.' American student Pip Durrant arrives in Romania to continue the research of the late Dr Marcu into the Transylvanian village of Arva, where a high incidence of mental illness amongst the women is coupled with a shocking history of ritual child rape and murder. But, once there, Pip finds his rational, scientific worldview being increasingly challenged by the seemingly supernatural horrors he encounters. What's more, he soon realises that the mysteries surrounding the village seem to be somehow linked to traumatic events in his own troubled childhood. Could he really be falling prey to the timeless evil of the Pied Piper of Hamelin ...? The Piercing is the long-awaited second book in acclaimed author Helen McCabe's chilling Piper trilogy.