Thomas Smak Book order

After the death of his mother, six-year-old Elliott Avenue embarks on an unusual family trip. During a visit at a rest stop, he loses consciousness and wakes up thirty-seven days later in an orphanage in the heart of Maudlin, West Carolina. His father and sister remain missing. Elliott's new life includes a loving but mentally unstable foster mother, a group of boys who claim they fell from the sky, and a mysterious shadow figure he calls the Grey Man. Over the next twelve years, Elliott receives "birthday gifts" from his foster mother in the form of bizarre stories about Maudlin's past. These stories pull back the curtain on an ominous secret that sleeps beneath their city. When he's not unraveling the many myths of Maudlin, Elliott searches for meaning in his life while fighting the demons that rage inside him.