The Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, have been successful in ridding the county of witches, ghosts, and boggarts, but they face a much more formidable task when they travel to Priestown to confront the Bane and the Quisitor.
Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties."