Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of graphic violence, homicide, suicide, child loss, sexual abuse of a child, addiction, and animal death.

Eleven-year-old Brian begins the novel as a largely innocent, carefree child. He was born with a harelip and attends weekly speech therapy sessions, and he has a crush on Sally Ratcliffe, the speech therapist. He has a younger brother, Sean, whom he loves very much. Brian enjoys watching baseball with his dad. He feels obligated to love his mother, Cora, but finds her relationship with food problematic.

Brian is a thoughtful boy and a good student. He collects baseball cards with his dad, and this interest causes him to falls under Mr. Gaunt’s spell when he is led to believe that an old baseball card of a lackluster player is actually a rare Sandy Koufax card. Caught in Mr. Gaunt’s supernatural snare, Brian is manipulated into covering Wilma’s sheets with mud and throwing rocks through her windows to incite her deadly feud with Nettie.

Brian’s interactions with Mr. Gaunt introduce the shopkeeper’s manipulative tactics. Gaunt’s ability to create an illusion of friendship and understanding makes Brian feel valued and special, further ensnaring him in a web of deceit.