Customer Reviews

Pale Immortal

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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

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

If a book can be judged by the impact it leaves on the reader, this has to rank as one of the best I have ever read. I have enjoyed all of Anne Frasier's novels, but this was...Wow!!! This novel read like a short story, with really a minimum of characters and not a lot of dwelling on the past and each and every character's history. Pale Immortal could have easily been a couple hundred pages longer and still have been excellent. As it is, when I finished reading it, I was just astounded by the ending. These poor people! Evan, Graham and especially Rachel. Anne Frasier did not wrap the ending nice and neatly so that everyone lived happily ever after. She just left it. I don't know if a sequel is planned here or not, but come on...I might need therapy if I spend too much time dwelling on the ending. Anyway, this is an easy five stars. There is no maybe a five, maybe a four, but closer to a five. This was scary, creepy, exciting and depressing. After finishing the book I wanted to drive to Wisconsin and rescue Rachel from her mindset. And Evan...If you've read the work, you have to wonder what thoughts are 'brewing'in his mind...You'll know what that means if you read the book. Awesome book that I would highly recommend.

Some places on the Earth, dark places, are simply bad. It's not clear why.

Perhaps evil flows flows like water. Once in a while it rains, but somewhere, deep in the shadows, all black water must drain. Old Tuonela, the decaying town in Pale Immortal, is one of those places.

This novel is a dark, subtle exploration of that place and people forever tied to it. If you like the interplay of people haunted by their past, if you shiver at the touch of evil, yet cannot look away, then this book was written for you!

I honestly think this book is one of the best that Ms. Frasier has written. I was entranced the entire time I read Pale Immortal. The scenes were so well written that I could feel and smell exactly what was going on. It's takes a lot for me to get that engrossed in a book and Pale Immortal did that for me from page one.

To be honest, I was not familiar with Anne Frasier. I ran across her on Myspace and was drawn to her books because they were set in Wisconsin, my home state. I approached her to see if she would be willing to submit a book for review, and she was more than happy to oblige. I am thankful, as this was a fantastic read and really drew me in from the very beginning.

This book is set in the sleepy town of Tuonela, Wisconsin - a town that is notorious for the "Pale Immortal" - a serial killer who stalked the streets one hundred years ago and was rumored to drain his victims of their blood. Since the death of the "Pale Immortal" no one has lived in Old Tuonela, instead moving a few miles away and rebuilding on ground that was less haunted. The only people foolish enough to step foot in Old Tuonela are the "goth" kids or the occasional tourist - people who don't really belive the legend or are just looking for a good scare.

Even though the town has moved, it's past continues to haunt it. The corpse of a young girl is found dumped alongside a local road, drained of all of her blood. Has the "Pale Immortal" been resurrected from his unmarked grave, to rain terror down on New Tuonela? Or is there a new terror that the residents must encounter, something even more evil that the ghosts of their past?

The most logical suspect in most of the townspeople's eyes is the recluse, Evan Stroud. Not only has he written a book that would give him access to details most people don't know, he also suffers from a rare condition known as Porphyria, which makes it unable for him to be in sunlight. He has been taunted for years as being a "freak" or a "Vampire" and has considered leaving, but where would he go? At least he is familiar with the town, and most people accept him, even if they aren't exactly friendly. And he is not without friends. His best friend Rachel Burton has recently returned to town and taken the job of County Coroner. It gives him someone to talk to and a reason to look forward to something in his day.

Evan's life is turned upside down when a young man named Graham Yates shows up at his door, stating that he is his son. Although Evan does remember sleeping with Graham's mother, she was the type of girl who slept with more boys than not, and the odds of Graham being his son don't seem too probable. While waiting for the DNA results, Graham gets mixed up with a group of hoodlums who have named themselves "The Pale Immortals" and believe that the rotting bones of their idol and namesake hold the power of life, death, and immortality. For a boy who has been trying to fit in his whole life, it is easy to fall into their warped views- after all, these are the first true friends he has had in years. But the townsfolk of Tuonela have no idea what is lurking in their mist - an evil so powerful it may destroy them all.

The formation of the characters in this book is flawless - I was pleased as there are times when authors seem to go on and on giving details that really are not relevant to the story or ploty, but this was not the case. The characters are also kept to a minimum, making it much easier to relate to the heartache and horror that each one goes through in search of the true "killer".

This is a fantastic read and one that I highly reommend, especially for those of you who enjoy nothing more than a good scare!

Witches, Vampires, Ghosts, Druids, Werewolves, Pagans, Dragons and the like.....you will love this book. A little deviation from the usual Anne Frasier novel and filled with enough mystery to keep you coming back for more. Received my amazon delivery at work and then struggled to stay focused on work rather than tear open the box and start reading like I wanted. This is one Frasier novel you won't want to miss!!!

My main issue is if any of the previous reviewers actually read the whole text of the book. The general plot has some redeeming qualities if there was some re-writes. It was the poor editting that doomed the novel for me! Chapter 6 was repeated in some parts. There were many misspelled words- such as "feet" for "feel" and "hopping" instead of using "hoping." The errors really cheapened the novel. The novel had some promise, but I believe the author released it too fast without actually reviewing it.

Anne Frasier's skill for colliding reality and the supernatural will have you searching the shadows for things not of this world. Pale Immortal gives you all the elements of a perfect thriller...a psychotic killer, gut-curling suspense, and storytelling that makes your blood run cold.