Apparition [Paperback]

Michaelbrent Collings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2012

Every year, thousands of children are killed...by their own parents. Now, Shane Wills is about to discover why, as he comes under attack from an evil that has existed since the beginning of time. An evil that invades loving parents and turns them into something else. An evil that feeds on the blood and despair of dying children. An evil that most people will never know, because they cannot perceive... the APPARITION.

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Apparition is an Amazon Bestseller written by novelist Michaelbrent Collings, whose other bestsellers include DARKBOUND, THE HAUNTED, THE LOON, RISING FEARS, and BILLY: MESSENGER OF POWERS.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Apparition is...one of the most intense and frightening novels this reviewer has read in many a year....reads as grippingly as...Blatty's masterpiece, The Exorcist....not just a 'recommended' novel, it is easily one of the most entertaining and satisfying horror novels this reviewer has read within the past few years." - hellnotes.com

"Apparition is uncompromising and relentless....  highly recommended...." - Horror-Web

"This is the scariest book I've ever read....  I could not stop reading....  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED." - Paul Gennesse, editor of The Crimson Pact series.

"Apparition is a hard core supernatural horror novel that is going to scare the hell out of you....  This book has everything that you would want in a horror novel.... it is a roller coaster ride right up to a shocking ending." - horroraddicts.net

"[Apparition is] Un-put-down-able. Riveting. Captivating. Mesmerizing.... [Collings] writes from the heart and soul and gut, in an honesty that feels like part conversation and part confession.... [A]n effective, emotional, nerve-twisting read, another amazingly well-written one from a top-notch writer." - The Horror Fiction Review

About the Author

Michaelbrent Collings is a novelist and screenwriter. He has written numerous bestselling horror, thriller, sci-fi, and fantasy novels, including The Haunted, The Loon, and the YA series The Billy Saga (beginning with Billy: Messenger of Powers).

He hopes someday to develop superpowers, or, if that is out of the question, then at least to get a cool robot arm.

Michaelbrent also has a Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/MichaelbrentCollings and can be followed on twitter @mbcollings. Follow him for cool news, updates, and advance notice of sales. You will also be kept safe when the Glorious Revolution begins!

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1478167769
• ISBN-13: 978-1478167761
• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michaelbrent Collings is a #1 bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He has written numerous bestsellers, including Darkbound, Apparition, The Haunted, The Loon, Rising Fears, and the bestselling YA fantasy series The Billy Saga, beginning with Billy: Messenger of Powers.

He hopes someday to develop superpowers, or, if that is out of the question, then at least to get a cool robot arm.

Michaelbrent has a wife and several kids, all of whom are much better looking than he is (though he admits that's a low bar to set), and also cooler than he is.

Michaelbrent also has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MichaelbrentCollings and can be followed on Twitter through his username @mbcollings. Follow him for cool news, updates, and advance notice of sales. You will also be kept safe when the Glorious Revolution begins!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep every light on in the room while reading this!! Scary! July 30, 2012

By CelticMommy

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I started reading "Apparition" on a sunny weekend day... a bright and cheerful day that almost kept the insanity of this books subject at bay. Almost. Just one chapter in and I was hooked! Part of me was disgusted with the subject of the book-- as a mom, how could I not be? But, the more powerful urge to find out what was going to happen overruled all of my senses and as the book got deeper and bolder and more horrifying, my casual day reading turned into one long and terrifying night.

I had read through dinner... I had hugged my boys and kissed them a zillion times while thinking "is this how Kari tucked in her kids before going bonkers?" and then running back to the book for more. Like an absolute moron, I conserved energy and read by screen-light when darkness came. Honestly, this was NOT a good idea for my mind was racing and imagining things lurking in every dark corner of my living room. I was whisper shouting at my screen as the two children each had their own freakish encounters one after the other. "GET OUT!!!" I was whisper yelling. Gripping my iPad, I reached the end of Chapter 22 having not put the book down for hours. I could not have timed my break from the book any more perfectly than this!

Literally, as I am reading the line "It's coming back soon," this happened to me. My sweet and hyper six year old, who I've been imagining quite horribly as the sweetheart child Matthew in "Apparition" since the beginning of the book, comes quietly out of his room. I realized my son was behind me a nanosecond before I heard his teeny tiny whispering voice asking for a glass of water please and it shot me and my heart rate up from the couch! If I were a cartoon, I would've been flattened on the ceiling of the living room. My iPad clattered onto the carpet and I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack. Literally really really, the book had gripped my imagination so fiercely that I could not loosen myself from "Apparition" for a good two or three minutes.

Once my wee child was safely back in bed, I looked at the time. I remembered everything I had planned for the next day and how I HAD to have sleep. And I totally ignored that rationale and kept reading until the very last page. I could not wait to find out what was going to happen. And when the ending was there, I was stunned. And ugh, I felt like I had to take a shower!! I had been so fully creeped out! But, that is the goal of a book like this is it not? I never did sleep that night, worrying about roaches and apparitions and the unthinkable.

This book is not for the faint of heart! For anyone reading this who has children, has grandchildren... heck, even for those readers without children who have an imagination that thinks of and asks the "what ifs" kinds of questions... I'm telling you, read this book with the lights on! Mr. Collings will get into your head and stay there!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE SCARIEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ July 3, 2012

By Paul Genesse

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

(spoiler free)

This is the scariest book I've ever read. I devoured Apparition in two episodes of all night reading and had a really hard time putting it down. I didn't even mean to read the book at that exact time, but once I read the first chapter I was hooked. I had to keep going and couldn't stop until I hit chapter seven.

Apparition tells the very intimate story about a family of four: mom, dad, and their two kids, a teen girl and young boy. It explores one of the most horrible concepts I can imagine, filicide: the deliberate killing of children by their parents. That concept alone is horrifying and Collings uses it to ratchet up the terror to a level I haven't seen before.

Brilliant journal entries written by an unknown person (until the end) precede each chapter and they are some of most chilling lines I've ever read. Then the chapters themselves move forward with relentless narrative drive page after page.

The first four chapters are so tense and gripping, and lead up to a big event, which sets up the rest of the book. After the big event, the family which the novel revolves around, are devastated and things just get worse for them as the book continues.

After the big event, the book is tense, but slows for a while as we get to know the main characters, and spend some time in their minds. It is a necessary build up and the characterization is stellar, which of course leads to another series of horrific events that will leave you gasping for air.

The ending of Apparition was incredibly scary and blew me away. I could not stop reading and stayed up hours past my bedtime because I had to finish it and know what happened to these expertly drawn characters who felt so real.

I know that Michaelbrent Collings is a screenwriter and I can see this novel being an A-list Hollywood horror movie. It would be extremely scary, especially the ending, which pulls together so many threads and gives us the answer why seemingly normal parents suddenly snap one day and kill their children.

FIVE STARS, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of horror

Paul Genesse, Editor of the The Crimson Pact

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A SOMEWHAT HOKEY APPARITION January 8, 2013

By William C. Rasmussen

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Michaelbrent Collings' novel, APPARITION, is a strange piece of fiction to read and review. First off, I had never heard of filicide: the parental killing of one's own children. Disturbing to say the least, and it gets worse as each of the chapters is preceded by a paragraph or three of chilling insight into just that topic by an unknown individual. It's enough, by itself, to make one stop reading the story almost. But the tale isn't bad at all, once you get by the disturbing subject matter. The problem, to me, was that for every truly scary, disturbing passage, there was another passage wherein I felt like the author was writing not to an adult, but to a child! And it really turned me off to his writing.

But what really lowered my rating of this adequate novel was the constant insight into the protagonist's thought processes (the kids' father) wherein every chapter or so he emphasizes how much he wants to kill his kids in disgusting ways, the frequency of these thoughts unnecessarily diluting their impact. And, of course, the telegraphed ending was just the frosting on the cake for me.

Alas, this story had its genuine scary moments, but the repetition of passages, the dumbed-down writing in sections, and the cliched ending really dampened my enthusiasm for the overall piece.