Masterton is a horror veteran with the ability to make his readers feel seriously creeped out. But this novel is distressingly bland. Gideon Lake, a film composer, begins an affair with a married woman, Kate. She invites him on a trip to Sweden, where Gideon encounters a lot of weird stuff, including an eerie pair of young girls. Turns out he has an unusual sensitivity to ghosts, and soon he has to balance his love for Kate with his trepidations about who she really is. In some ways the book feels like a hurried rewrite of Douglas Kennedy's The Woman in the Fifth (2007). There are also some uncharacteristic moments of sloppiness, as when Gideon says his nickname is Lalo, after Lalo Schifrin, composer of the theme music for Jaws. But John Williams composed the Jaws music, and Schifrin reworked Williams' theme on a later album. Still, even with all its flaws, the novel moves at a good pace, and Gideon is a likable narrator whose personality and general air of spooked-out confusion propel us through the story. Masterton's fans may give this one a thumbs-up, but it's not his best work. --David Pitt
Review
"A masterly plotter who evokes both terror and suspense.†—Library Journal
“The living inheritor to the realm of Edgar Allan Poe.†—San Francisco Chronicle
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From Booklist
Masterton is a horror veteran with the ability to make his readers feel seriously creeped out. But this novel is distressingly bland. Gideon Lake, a film composer, begins an affair with a married woman, Kate. She invites him on a trip to Sweden, where Gideon encounters a lot of weird stuff, including an eerie pair of young girls. Turns out he has an unusual sensitivity to ghosts, and soon he has to balance his love for Kate with his trepidations about who she really is. In some ways the book feels like a hurried rewrite of Douglas Kennedy's The Woman in the Fifth (2007). There are also some uncharacteristic moments of sloppiness, as when Gideon says his nickname is Lalo, after Lalo Schifrin, composer of the theme music for Jaws. But John Williams composed the Jaws music, and Schifrin reworked Williams' theme on a later album. Still, even with all its flaws, the novel moves at a good pace, and Gideon is a likable narrator whose personality and general air of spooked-out confusion propel us through the story. Masterton's fans may give this one a thumbs-up, but it's not his best work. --David Pitt
Review
"A masterly plotter who evokes both terror and suspense.†—Library Journal
“The living inheritor to the realm of Edgar Allan Poe.†—San Francisco Chronicle
“A mesmerizing storyteller!†—Publishers Weekly
“Possibly horror's most consistent provider of chills.†—Masters of Terror
“A horror veteran with the ability to make his readers feel seriously creeped out.†—Booklist
“A master of the genre.†—Rocky Mountain News