Emma is a teenage girl who has spent most of her life being shuffled from place to place. Between her mother’s drug addiction and her sister’s overbearing nature, Emma feels she is being forced to grow up sooner then she should. Using brooding music and paranormal romance novels as a means of escape; Emma hides from the hell that she faces every day. Finally settling in a small coastal town, Emma meets Matt, a man who she believes to be the prince that she has always dreamed of. At first she finds herself drawn to his dark and strange desires, but the closer they become, the more Emma realizes that there is something horribly wrong with Matt. The person who she thought could save her from her life, might be the same man who could end it. "This is not a book for everyone. In fact, not even general horror readers may be able to stomach the atmosphere set and presented in Placebo. This is a book for the hardcore horror aficionado who is mildly amused by about 75 percent of today’s horror fare and who actively searches for deep, dark, sinister and mysterious plots that might even see Stephen King raise an eyebrow or two." - Sylvia Cochran, The Deepening