Following her bestselling THE END OF MR. Y, this is a stunning new edition of Scarlett Thomas's other mind-melting, page-turning work of brilliance. Alice Butler has been receiving some odd messages - all anonymous, all written in simple code, and all evidence that the sender has been watching her closely. Are they from someone at POPCO- the profit-hungry toy corporation she works for? Or are they perhaps from Alice's long-disappeared father? The solution, she is sure, has something to do with the key she's been wearing round her neck since she was ten.