Platforms [Import] [Paperback]

John R. Maxim (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Sphere (September 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0722160240
• ISBN-13: 978-0722160244
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

More About the Author

John R. Maxim was born in Greenwich Village, NYC, educated at NY Jesuit Schools (Xavier and Fordham) played all the street sports and most team sports.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Halloran sees dead people...., May 17, 2002

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platforms (Mass Market Paperback)

written long before The Sixth Sense, Maxim's novel takes us into the world of the paranormal; in his plot, dead people are still visible to the living world, at least to those who have the sensory perception to see them. These spirits cry for release from being caught between two worlds as a result of an electric train accident....three of them have happened in different parts of the world.

Maxim's hero, Peter Halloran is just an ordinary man, living in Riverside, CT (Fairfield?), lamenting the status of a marriage gone loveless. On the day of the train disaster, he is late and misses the train, narrowly escaping death. Later, he becomes aware that he can see the dead commuters, trapped in the spirit world, and giving off a kinetic energy that is trapping and destroying the townspeople. At first he disbelieves his powers; then he gets drawn into the larger world of psychic phenomena, and the attempt to "help the victims over" when he meets Jennifer Wilde, a famous psychic. The character of Jennifer is perhaps the best drawn element of the novel. She travels with a strange entourage: her assistant, Alex, who supplies the killing force when victims of the energy field begin to commit criminal acts, Mordicai Bloomer, another psychic nursing an unrequited love for Jennifer, and Lictor, her contact IN the spirit world.

In a tense and scary drama, Maxim weaves these characters in and out of trouble while they try to resolve the dilemma of the station and save those who are trapped. There are some horrible secondary characters, such as Peter's wife, Barbara,but, all in all, Maxim tells a satisfying tale.

It was my first Maxim novel, and I'm encouraged to read the Bannerman books, based on how much I enjoyed this story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous read in classic Maxim style!, May 4, 2002

By 

Darius L. Cross "Darius" (Southfield, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platforms (Mass Market Paperback)

This book, as most Maxim works do, starts ordinarily enough. Pete Halloran is an ordinary guy who undergoes an extraordinary accident in a train station. The resulting trauma leaves the ability to see AND communicate with dead people!! From there this book goes on to stand everything us mere mortals have, heretofore, ascribed to the question of life after death on it's head. This book challenges the reader to expand their thinking. It has smooth, flowing prose. It has a pace that will be familiar to veteran Maxim readers. It is, quite simply put, a terrific book and I would strongly recommend it.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it..., February 4, 2011

By 

SherriLee (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Platforms (Mass Market Paperback)

John Maxim is sometimes a little hard to follow but ALWAYS worth it. This is a smart, interesting book.