25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dark, creepy suspense/thriller, September 19, 2006
This review is from: Pale Immortal (Paperback)
Recently, I broke one of my own reading rules. Long ago, I learned that I have to be very careful what kind of books I read because if I read something that is too dark, I have nightmares for weeks afterwards.
Then a few weeks ago, I discovered the blog that Anne Frasier had created for her latest novel and on which she had posted Chapter 1 of Pale Immortal. That chapter piqued my interest enough that I continued to check back and later when she posted Chapter 2, I knew I was hooked. I had to know what happened to those characters.
For years, Graham Stroud's mother has threatened to leave him with his father in the town of Tuonela as if that was the worst punishment she could inflict upon him. But when she actually does abandon him on Evan Stroud's doorstep just days before his sixteenth birthday, Graham finds not the evil monster of his mother's tales but a man inflicted with a rare disease in which Evan must constantly guard against being exposed to sunlight.
Evan reluctantly agrees to take Graham in while DNA tests are being done to determine if Graham's claim to be his son is true. Over the course of the following days, for the first time in his life Graham begins to feel hope that some kind of "normal" life is possible for him.
However, all is not well in Tuonela. It is a town haunted by it's past. And when the morning after Graham's arrival in town, the body of a young woman is found completely drained of blood, that past is brought chillingly into the present.
County Coroner and Medical Examiner, Rachel Burton is called upon to investigate. But she soon has another body on her hands, an old, long dead, (and until recently) buried body but one which she suspects may be that of the Pale Immortal, himself.
Anne Frasier creates characters we want to get to know better. We begin to care what happens to them. And that's why I found myself reading the type of suspense/thriller I usually steer away from. I cared about those characters, stuck with them even as the story grew darker, creepier and more disturbing. I stayed with them through to the end.
That's what good storytelling does. It captures us and won't let us go. Anne Frasier has earned herself a new fan.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
scary novel with gothic and supernatural overtones, September 10, 2006
This review is from: Pale Immortal (Paperback)
The one thing the town of Tounela, Wisconsin is known for is the infamous Pale Immortal Richard Manchester who allegedly killed a hundred people drinking their blood. Some thought he was a vampire and buried him in a manner so he couldn't return from the grave. Since his death a century ago, there hasn't been a murder committed in town.
A cult of high school students calling themselves Pale Immortals dig up his body and let it be found by the police for reasons of their own. Graham, a high school student, is dumped on the door of the local resident Evan Stuart, thought by some to be a vampire because he suffers a rare disease that makes him allergic to the sun. Graham claims to be Evan's son and a DNA test proves him right. While the two are involved in their personal melodrama the town is in an uproar because the body of a high school girl was found, her body drained of blood. Evan's DNA is found at the scene of the crime and Rachel, the town medical examiner, hides him before he can be arrested. Graham, who escaped from an abusive mother is in danger from the leader of the vampire cult; Evan will risk everything to save the son he cares for even if it means his own death.
PALE IMMORTAL is much darker and frightening in tone than other books written by the author. Readers will wonder if the PALE IMMORTAL was really a vampire and be chilled by the visions of the dead Rachel sees. Anne Frasier has written a very scary novel with gothic and supernatural overtones. Readers will pity Graham and hope he can find a way to have a normal life. This is a stupendous work, worthy of an award nomination,
Harriet Klausner
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice One!, September 10, 2006
This review is from: Pale Immortal (Paperback)
Oh my! Another deliciously demented trip to the Mid-West a'la Ms Frasier. I will never understand how a seemingly normal young woman can come up with these chilling tales. And for the first time from her...a possibility of continuation! Death and destruction centering around the vampire myth...a who-done-it with clues to ruminate; some telegraphed, some subtle. Plots, subplots, s-curves, u-turns and crashes through the guardrails.
And there is a soundtrack available at iTunes! How very exciting in the information/internet age, eh? Is this from the mysterious Martha on the dedication page? A Martha to produce a CD mix to experience "The Dead" by? :)
I read the "From the Author" section at stoplights on the way home...a nice touch to add believability to the story, a fictional literary device...or was it?
Sleep Tight, but leave the nightlight on.
Cheers
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