Synopsis

Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist, is confronted with Alan Strang, a boy who has blinded six horses. To the owner of the horses the horror is simple: he was unlucky enough to employ a 'looney'. To the boys parents it is a hideous mystery; Alan had always adored horses, and although Dora Strang may have been a slightly overindulgent mother and Frank Strang a slightly tetchy father, they both loved their son. To Dysart it is a psychological puzzle to be untangled and pain to be alleviated... or rather, given his profession, that is what it ought to be. As it turns out, it is something far more complex and disturbing.