Customer Reviews

The Lost Village

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I highly recommend THE LOST VILLAGE by Mark Edward Hall as a great read. This novel brings you to the coastal town of James Village, Maine, a place of dark secrets, and acquaints you with an interesting cast of characters: novelist Sarah Jameson and her young daughter, Annabelle (both are afflicted with a rare genetic disorder); a twisted but driven villian named Travis Boone who stalks mother and daughter with malevolent intent; Doc Flanagan; his wife, Angel; their daughter, Maggie who works for Michael Bannon, the long arm of the law in James Village. Although the town seems peaceful and most of its inhabitants decent and upright, something terrible lurks just beneath the surface, waiting and growing ever powerful. Mr. Magic, a local loner, knows it's there, despite the apathy throughout the town. And he knows why children have been disappearing . . . and what they've become.

THE LOST VILLAGE contains more than just a great story packed with chills and thrills, plenty of action and interesting dialogue. It reveals the secret essence of the Evil that has poisoned James Village. It may make you question your own beliefs about Good and Evil and bring you to a new and terrifying realization of the truths contained therein.

Once you've read THE LOST VILLAGE, you'll see things in a whole new light. And you'll pray that the light stays on for a long time after you've put the book on the shelf.

The Lost Village is 629 pages long and I read it in 3 days. When I was halfway through, the book started to climax and it never stopped! It was non-stop action, no lull time. As a devoted reader of Anne Rice and Dean Koontz, I recommend this book to anyone who likes to be spooked. Beware, you will not be able to put it down!

From beginning to end, the Lost Village was a thrilling journey. I found myself drawn into the story with such fervor; I didn't want to put it down. Reading as fast as I could to find out what happens next, then getting to the last chapter and purposefully slowing down to savor every last page. This book has it all! The author meshes horror, magic, love and faith with a whole lot of suspense and a chilling story line. I loved it!

I simply loved The Lost Village. I thought it was immensely overwhelming, magnificent and ingenious. It never gets boring, there are no areas where it gets bogged down. Wish it could have been twice as long. I hated to see it end.

The Lost Village by Mark Edward Hall was a wonderful read. The author's character development is nicely done and the storyline has a nice easy flow to it, making it very easy to read. Throughout the book there are many twists and turns with an ending that will leave you satisfied. I would highly recommend this book.

Mark Edward Hall creates a thinking man's "Village of the Damned" and delivers a rich, complex, and genuinely discomfiting story of good versus evil. "The Lost Village" is an ambitious, epic horror opus in the grand tradition of Stephen King, with well-drawn, believable characters and plot twists galore. The images he creates are compelling and detailed, drawing the reader into the terrifying world he creates. A refreshingly intricate read with no easy outs for the reader.

Having met the author, Mark Edward Hall, at my neighbor's house last summer, I was motivated to read his book. It helped also, that the author lives in Maine (Richmond) and that the setting of the novel is in the fictitious coastal community of James Village, Maine.

I had to be motivated or I'd never have gotten through the first 70 pages, and that would have been my loss. The novel has much to offer. The plot is intriguing, the characters are well developed, and I cannot help but be jealous of the author's command of the language.

Still, I have to admit that it took me more than two months to get through the first couple of chapters. While the author uses words skillfully, he uses too many of them, resulting in overdescription and an unnecessarily long read. He eases up a bit later in the story, but the first part of the book appears to have been overdeveloped, and was subsequently difficult to follow. I almost didn't bother.

It's not that I generally avoid long books. After reading Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy many years ago, rather than complaining about its length I wished that it didn't have to end. I have read nearly everything that Orson Scott Card has written, some of which were series in several parts, adding up to stories that were far longer than The Lost Village.

Editing might have benefited the novel in other ways as well. An author or editor intending to cut unnecessary description might have picked up on some of the typos or wrong word usages that only slightly detracted from the text - errors that wouldn't be caught by a spellchecker, such as the use of "sight" when "site" was intended, or "catch" when "cache" was the word the author was looking for. These are fairly minor problems, however.

Cacophony - It is clear that the author loves this word, so if you are going to read this book, look it up.

While it required a certain amount of discipline to get through at least the first couple of chapters of the book, I encourage you to do so and I don't think you'll regret it.

Mark Edward Hall is a skilled writer with a brilliant imagination. His characters are well developed and the author has accomplished his purpose in making the reader care about them. The plot is original and engrossing, with sub-plots that are effectively brought together to reinforce the central story.

I intend to read anything else that he writes.

The setting itself is alluring. If not for the evil that lies beneath the surface, it seems that James Village would be a nice place to live; so much so that I found myself hoping that it could be cleansed rather than destroyed.

For centuries, children in James Village have disappeared, taken from parents who remained strangely apathetic to their losses. Governed by a Village Council consisting of old men who seemed to have served forever, there is something sinister and secret beneath the surface of life in this isolated coastal community.

Michael Bannon, a former Green Beret, CIA agent, and Boston police detective, with a history of mental illness brought about by the mutilation murder of his wife and child, is serving as the chief constable of James Village.

Jack Labbe, Michael's deputy.

Captain Dave Torrance, someone who Michael Bannon feels that he can count on.

Sarah Jameson, an author of horror novels, is drawn to Ellis Manor, which she has inherited from her grandfather, Captain Ellis, a man who, even in death, remains very much a part of life in James Village.

Sarah's young daughter, Annabelle, driven by the same insistent voice that compels her mother to return to her ancestral home, is predestined to become a central figure in a battle between two supernatural powers which may or may not be thought of as good and evil.

Roger Freeman, Sarah's agent and friend.

Travis Boone, a serial killer and collector of human eyes, is drawn to Annabelle as he had once been drawn to her mother, yet he is to learn that it was a greater power that brought him to James Village.

Sammy Williams, more commonly known as Mr. Magic, was once a close confidant of Captain Ellis. Banished from Ellis Manor, he resides in a shack on Bluff Head near Lookout Mountain, where he tends his sheep.

Doc Everett Flanagan, a member of the Council and caretaker of Ellis Manor.

Maggie Jones, the estranged daughter of Dr. Everett and Angel Flanagan, serves as secretary to Constable Bannon, whom she is secretly in love with.

Corey Paine, a teenager haunted by feelings of guilt over the death of his brother, Johnny, who died one week after the two brothers paid a forbidden visit to Ellis Manor.

Corey's girlfriend, Marcie Sullivan.

Fay Reynolds, a middle-aged woman, newly diagnosed with cancer, who lives alone with her dog, Thumper.

Father Peter O'Connell, the pastor of St. James Cathedral, who lives in a basement room beneath the ancient church that seems to be coming apart.

Bobby Richards, a ten-year-old boy whose brother becomes one of the lost.

Susan Roth, a television reporter.

State Police Sergeant Paul Osborne.

Dan Briggs, the proprietor of Dan's Bar and Grille.

Joined by several others, these folks invite the reader into their world at a time when James Village is simultaneously being brought together and coming apart - a time when secrets are revealed and the children are returning. While some of them will prove to be serving different masters, each will play a part in the struggle between opposing supernatural forces.

Don't let my criticism keep you from reading this book. It really is worth the effort.

I review hundreds of books each year for a major publisher. As such, I am always looking for new material. This book opens with some intrigue, but quickly becomes bogged down in non-essential trivia: the plot line is predictable from the start: the characters are very plastic: and the writing style is extremely unrefined. Bottom line: the book is too much like what is being witten by thousands of other startup authors. I give this one a definite pass.

This book is way too long for the story it has to tell. The book drags on and on in many places. The style is too much like S. King, which is over-rated and over-exposed. Your time is better spent doing something other than reading this tedious book.

This is one of those novels that keeps you guessing the whole way. Many times I thought I had it all nicely sewn together in my mind and, wham! The story took another direction. I love that! I live in Wyoming, but I have spent many delightful days in Maine, and Mr. Hall caught the charms of the area and the people. To add as many wide ranging types of monsters and monster cohorts as the author did takes a lot of imagination and much work.I don't wish to give any of this fantastic story away. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it as much as I did.