When fourteen-year-old Emil Aleric’s best friend is taken during the Wonderland Murders of London, 1882, it can mean only one thing: his former abductor, the Hatter, is back.

Seven years previous, the night he watched his sister die, Emil escaped from Wonderland. Ever since, he’s wanted nothing more than to forget it ever existed. But when his guardian, Inspector Corwin James, takes the case, Emil is drawn in, desperate to prove that the Hatter is gone for good. To his dismay, all signs point otherwise. Still, Emil tries to ignore the evidence—until his best friend falls victim to the madman. Emil always knew, deep down, that when the time came he wouldn’t be able to hide; but now, he isn’t sure he wants to.

Emil never truly believed all of the Hatter’s stories. But as he races to find the Hatter before the Hatter finds him, he realizes that believing might just be the key.