The Hangman's Ritual

In a private prison somewhere in Manhattan, an executioner carries out his duties without question. But when he betrays his employer and ends up a prisoner himself, he learns the prison’s real purpose — and the true identities of his fellow inmates. Now he has to find a way to escape before he loses his grasp on sanity.“Nick Antosca has reached a level of blissful mastery.” –Peter Straub, Bram Stroker Award-winning author of Ghost Story, Koko, The Talisman, Lost Boy Lost Girl, Mr. X, Magic Terror and The Throat “Reading like an evil genius’s cross between The Collector and Oldboy, The Hangman’s Ritual tells the story of what lengths we might unthinkingly go to save a loved one, and what happens when we make the mistake of thinking about what we’re doing. Antosca once again peels back the skin of our society to reveal the horror within.” –Brian Evenson, author of Last Days, Windeye, and Immobility “Nick Antosca’s writing is morbid and intense, so that the reader always desires and fears what’s to come. The workings of this young mind are addictive, creating a mental landscape where the worlds of Thomas Ligotti and J.G. Ballard and perhaps Julian Green somehow, impossibly co-exist.” –Todd Grimson, author of Stabs at Happiness and Stainless