During a sweltering summer in 1915 Chicago, a little girl wanders off with a stranger and is never seen again. Her mother tells the girl's sister, 14-year-old Pin, that the world is too dangerous for little girls and Pin must now dress and act as a boy to be safe. This suits Pin just fine, because boys are treated better than girls anyway. Pin's mother reinvents herself as Madame Zanto, who tells fortunes just outside the local amusement park.
Pin wanders the park doing odd jobs and searching for dropped coins. She discovers the body of young girl at one of the attractions. Then, a few days later, another dead girl is found nearby. It's clear a serial killer is preying on little girls, but the owner refuses to shut down the park because people are flocking to see where the murders took place. The police are pressured to make any arrest whatsoever, while Pin suspects the murderer is the same person who took her sister.
Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Elizabeth Hand (Hard Light) has created a host of strange, dangerous and misunderstood characters with whom Pin interacts on her quest to find the killer: Lord Clyde the Hoo Doo King, who also plays Satan at another attraction; Ida the Living Mermaid & Eighth Wonder of the World; disgraced cop Fatty Bacon, who works in park security; slow-witted Henry, the man-child who claims he's been hired to protect little girls in the park; and a wild group of boys who pickpocket and dole out beatings with impunity. But it's the tight writing that moves this killer story along like a runaway roller-coaster. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer