An eerie story in which a British schoolmaster suspects foul play in the death of a student. He suspects a mysterious thirteen-year-old that's all I'm telling. - The Mystery Lover's Companion, Art BourgeauThe investigation concludes: disgrace. A twelve-year-old boy, Thorne, climbs onto the roof of the gymnasium, loses his balance, falls. It could have happened to anyone, in any middle school: you know how kids are. But Professor Seacombe isn't entirely convinced. Thorne was alone on the roof; yet he fell backwards, as if someone had pushed him. And little by little other strange and "misfortunes and " come to light, a chain of inexplicable, incredible facts, a difficult mosaic from which finally emerges the most elementary and definitive catastrophe that could ever threaten our planet.