When fifteen-year-old Doug and his younger sister Colette move with their parents to a forested wilderness area, they encounter some weird creatures whose lives are endangered. In this modern horror tale, Doug and his younger sister discover a hidden tunnel where a race of weird underground people live. Fifteen-year-old Doug & his 10-year-old sister, Colette, encounter the beasties, forest-dwelling ghouls who remove the arms & legs of their victims. In this modern horror tale, Doug & his younger sister discover a hidden tunnel where a race of weird underground people live. The master of suspense delivers a hard-core horror story to thrill and chill. Fans will get more than goose bumps from this terrifying tour de force by William Sleator. The nightmare begins when Doug's family moves to the desolate northern woods; soon he and his little sister, Colette, become caught up in a war between the area's loggers and a dying race of woodland creatures who depend on human body parts for their survival. Tunnels, tunnels, leading everywhere-even right into Doug and Colette's basement. But who built them? Could the rumors about the mysterious, bloodthirsty kidnappers called the Beasties possibly be true? Skeptical Doug doesn't buy it at first, even if an unusual number of the local inhabitants seem to be missing important pieces of their anatomies. But once he and his sister stumble into a cavernous opening and meet the Beastie scout named Fingers, Doug is forced to become a believer. Colette soon is indoctrinated into the society of the Family, an underground civilization of slimy, pale beings with crudely stitched-together body parts. Doug desperately hopes to remain an outsider, but it seems he has no choice. In fact, the Family needs him to make the biggest sacrifice of all. If he tries to escape, he faces an awful truth (one that readers, too, will learn): Once you have met the Beasties, you will never be safe again.