"You do not know me, but I know you. Since you first breathed in this world, I have watched you. The hopes you have wishes, the worries you have feared, the sins you have committed—I know them all. I am The Observer, The Recorder. I am also The Punisher. The time has come for your punishment. Listen closely, the hourglass run low." (Chapter 1, p.7)

" 'Someone in the group might be out to hurt someone else in the group,' Neil said. 'Or maybe everyone in the group. The Caretaker could be right in front of us.' " (Chapter 2, p.19)

"They carried the body fifty paces into the field, the skeletons of the sun-baked bushes grabbing for them like the claws of the cursed. They did not have a shovel. They used the bar that undid the wheel bolts, a large screwdriver and their bare hands to...