Clever Boy. Genius Killer. True Story.

A gothic historical thriller based on a shocking true crime that captivated nineteenth-century America—and drew editorials from Mark Twain.

In his father’s jail, young Albert Jarvis finds what he’s always wanted: a teacher who takes him seriously. Sharp-minded, overlooked, aching to matter in a rough 1840s frontier town where a boy is measured by his grit, Albert is undone the first time the new prisoner speaks to him in Greek.

The prisoner’s name is Edward Rulloff. Physician. Lawyer. Linguist fluent in 27 languages. And one of the most notorious serial killers of the nineteenth century.

What begins as language lessons becomes an education in something stranger—in how a brilliant mind rationalizes its crimes, and how far a boy’s loyalty can stretch before it snaps. As Albert is drawn deeper into Rulloff’s world of silk thefts, stolen identities, and polished lies, he finds himself caught between the man’s monstrous acts and the teacher who made him feel, for the first time, like someone worth knowing.

Based on the shocking true-crime story that captivated nineteenth-century America, drew editorials from Mark Twain, and may have inspired Sherlock Holmes’s most notorious nemesis Moriarty, The Prisoner’s Apprentice is a gothic psychological thriller about brilliance, belonging, and a boy’s impossible choice between the teacher who made him and the killer he can no longer unsee.

For readers of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist, Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Winner of the Independent Reader’s Discovery Award. Finalist, Eric Hoffer Award. B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree.