The Haunting of Matthew Thorne (The Ghost Story Collection)

As a long, hot summer draws to a close on the French Riviera, Stella and her boyfriend Gary are in trouble. They owe a lot of money to some local gangsters, and there seems to be only one way out. Stella has to hit the bars of the city's most expensive hotels, searching for men she can scam.

When she meets the mysterious Matthew Thorne, however, Stella's life is changed forever. Something about Matthew seems different, but she soon discovers that he's hiding a dark secret. He says he lives alone in his sprawling mansion above the city, yet Stella immediately notices that there seems to be some other presence lurking in the empty rooms. And Matthew himself seems haunted, trapped between madness and sanity, as if he knows something terrible about the future.

Can Stella find the money she needs to get out of danger? Can Matthew Thorne ever escape his grim fate? Or have the events of that summer been set in stone for many years, ever since a young boy ventured into a mysterious tent at a fairground?