The Ferryman [Mass Market Paperback]

Christopher Golden (Author), Charles de Lint (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2008

?A powerful and haunting tale? (Clive Barker) from the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Strangewood.

Janine Hartschorn left David Bairstow for a man who abandoned her once he discovered she was pregnant with his child. A miscarriage almost ended her life. Now she and David are reaching for a second chance.

But something is determined to keep them apart. Something with the power to conjure up ghosts from David?s past and make them real. Something Janine knows from her near-death experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stoker Award-winner Golden (Straight on 'Til Morning; countless Buffy the Vampire Slayer titles) offers an intelligent, compelling ghost story in the classic horror tradition. When Boston teacher Janine Hartschorn loses her baby at birth, she has what seems to be a near-death experience Charon the Ferryman of Greek myth comes for her, but she throws away the silver coins he demands. After her recovery, however, Janine realizes that something real is after her and also after her best friend, lesbian Annette Muscari; her old lover, David Bairstrow(whom she left to take up with her old flame Spencer Hahn, the stillborn baby's father, who in turn deserts her); her mother and so on. Fortunately, Janine and her brainy friends know how to survive, and with the help of a wise priest, Father Hugh Charles, they get almost literally to the bottom of the mystery (the final, harrowing confrontation is on the Charles River). First, though, our heroes must suffer further losses and some awful assaults on their sanity, as when Annette finds the apparently perfect lover in a simulacrum of an old girlfriend of David's, whom he killed in a drunk-driving accident as a teenager. Superior characterization, an exquisitely detailed setting and superbly orchestrated suspense set this above the usual run of horror novels. Only Janine's inexplicable attraction to the feckless Spencer rings a false note.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Janine Hartschorn nearly dies giving birth to her stillborn son, and while hovering between life and death, she encounters Charon, the Greek mythological ferryman of the dead. Instead of going with him peacefully, she throws the coins for her passage to the next world at him, and that defiant act sets off the ferryman's obsession with her. Recovering, she tries to move on, putting Spencer, the cruel father of her baby, in the past, and rekindling a romance with David, whom she left for Spencer. But supernatural occurrences threaten the couple. David glimpses people from his past who are long dead, and Charon stalks Janine. Meanwhile, their friend Annette seems to have met the woman of her dreams, Jill, but Jill bears an uncanny resemblance to a young woman for whose accidental death David is responsible. As the supernatural beings become more menacing, David and Janine are forced to fight for their lives and the lives of all those they love. A gripping tale from a genre master. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade; Reprint edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462270
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462275
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,217,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the award-winning, bestselling author of such novels as The Myth Hunters, Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, Of Saints and Shadows, and (with Tim Lebbon) The Map of Moments. He has also written books for teens and young adults, including Poison Ink, Soulless, and the thriller series Body of Evidence, honored by the New York Public Library and chosen as one of YALSA's Best Books for Young Readers. Upcoming teen novels include a new series of hardcover YA fantasy novels co-authored with Tim Lebbon and entitled The Secret Journeys of Jack London.

A lifelong fan of the "team-up," Golden frequently collaborates with other writers on books, comics, and scripts. In addition to his recent work with Tim Lebbon, he co-wrote the lavishly illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire with Mike Mignola. With Thomas E. Sniegoski, he is the co-author of the book series OutCast and The Menagerie, as well as comic book miniseries such as Talent, currently in development as a feature film. With Amber Benson, Golden co-created the online animated series Ghosts of Albion and co-wrote the book series of the same name.
As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies The New Dead and British Invasion, among others, and has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, the online animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson) and a network television pilot.

The author is also known for his many media tie-in works, including novels, comics, and video games, in the worlds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Angel, and X-Men, among others.

Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars believable and frightening horror novel, May 11, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ferryman (Paperback)

Once they were lovers but Janine Hartschorn left David Bairstow because her ex-boyfriend and the love of her life wanted her back. When she became pregnant with Spencer's child, he dumped her. The baby died and Janine almost did as well but she was a fighter and refused to go into the boat of Charon the Ferryman.

When David pays Janine a condolence call, the spark of passion and love reignites in both their hearts. They start going out together but they are both haunted by otherworldly manifestations. David is almost killed in a car accident and the driver of the car is a student who was killed more than a year ago. A stranger kills Spencer, who had been stalking Janine. THE FERRYMAN will not let anyone or anything to keep him from obtaining what he wants: Janine.

Once in a very long while, a horror novel will come along that is so believable and frightening that it will live on in the reader's mind forevermore. THE STAND and THE EXORCIST were such books and so too is THE FERRYMAN. Christopher Golden is a talented writer who makes the audience give credence to events in his novel as if they occurred in the real world.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not his best, July 23, 2002

By 

Juan Suros "jsuros" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ferryman (Paperback)

This is the third Christopher Golden book I have read, after Strangewood & "Straight on til morning", and it didn't really stand up to the quality of the others in my mind. Strangewood was so incredible that I feel bad about comparing anything to it, but there you are.

This book is more "adult" in theme, and therein lies the problem. Mr. Golden has shown genius in writing about the pain & wonder of childhood, and the echoes that result down through the generations as a result. There are elements of this in Ferryman, but most of the book concerns the lives and actions of as unsympathetic, self absorbed, even cartoonish a trio of lead protagonists as I can ever remember reading about.

This book agravated a few of my pet peeves, I'll admit. It's very strongly set in a old money New England world that this Californian finds less appealing that the author seems to. I think a token Republican at a party is the closest thing to an ethnic reference in the entire book. It makes a big deal of the homosexuality of a main character, yet never seems to realize that gay relationships are more than sexual. Only villains show any growth or ability to rise above their situation in 'life'. There is some confusion even as to who is, or whether this book has, a main character. The contrast between the Villain's motivation and choice of tools are the main source of this confusion, I think. Maybe I'm just over thinking it.

I wanted to like this book, and there is good stuff in it. Mr. Golden does a bang up job as always in describing the supernatural horrors and in weaving them into the book in a gradual, insidious way. He pulls no punches on bodycount, or who gets killed. At all.

Good stuff. I just wish I hadn't been rooting for the death of the protagonists there at the end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't pay the Ferryman, August 4, 2002

By 

Jen. M. "murrayj51" (Baton Rouge, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ferryman (Paperback)

This book reminded me of an old song from the 80s with the lyrics 'dont pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side'. One of the best things about this book is the villian, Charon the Ferryman. Mr. Golden has taken a figure from Greek mythology and made him amazingly frightening.
Particularly interesting is the theory behind Charon's appearance as explained by priests Father Charles and Father Jessup. Because Charon was once worshiped or revered as a supernatural figure his presence still exists, even if the modern world no longer considers him important. Another great thing is that Mr. Golden allows Charon to have human emotions, longing and concern and affection for the protagonist Janine.
Without giving away all of the plot details and the scary ending, I found this book interesting and unsettling, and very good. I'm looking forward to the next Christopher Golden novel.