But in his last newsletter he wanted to tell us about a book that he thought was really seriously good. In fact, he urged us to stop reading the newsletter, go get the book and read the book and then come back to the newsletter.

This was an unusual request. But I went ahead and did it. The book, The Tulip Touch by Anne Fune, is, surprisingly, a "children's book". Anne Fine is, also surprisingly, the author of the book Mrs. Doubtfire.

Our heroine is Natalie, a young girl whose parents manage a large hotel called the Palace. The family is completed by Natalie's younger brother, Julius. Julius takes up a lot of Natalie's mother's time and the hotel takes up a lot of her father's time, so she's free to explore the hundred or so rooms and the hotel's expansive grounds.

One day she meets a neighbor girl in a corn field. She's holding a kitten and her name is Tulip. Natalie asks her if she wants to be friends.

From this moment, it's going to be constant suspense and gradual reveals, layer upon layer of subtle detail and insinuation. Fine is an incredible writer and this is a very sophisticated, mature and unsettling book for anyone, let alone children.

Presumably the authorial decision to tell the story in Natalie's voice, using the vocabulary and plain speaking that would be natural to her is what makes this a "children's book". That and marketing.

You know Tulip's going to be bad news. Roald Dahl-level bad news. It's always little things at first. Not quite lying, for instance, but still being dishonest and misleading. Her endless inventing of bizarre games for her and Natalie, which have sinister and disturbing names like "Rats in a Firestorm" or "Road of Bones".

This is a horror novel but no blood, nothing supernatural. The real horrors of the world originate with abuse and neglect and indifference and the potential for harm and sadism is part of being human.

As bad as Tulip's actions become, the fact that Natalie is there as her friend and collaborator insures that the finger doesn't point only at Tulip. Natalie is the "normal" one, yet this is the choice she makes, to go with Tulip. Natalie, like everyone, has capacities for cruelty and sadism.

And Tulip didn't really stand a chance. Her parents and teachers and peers all contribute to an environment that directed Tulip to go her damaged, dangerous, lonely way.

Evil, however you define it, is a link in a chain, often the last link. It might be where someone ends up but it's never where they start. And nobody gets there by themselves.

The Tulip Touch is an extraordinary book and a great one as well. I don't think I'm likely to forget it.

The first line is "You shouldn't tell a story till it's over, and I'm not sure this one is".