Barely surviving a spectacular yachting accident, Mark Sayres finds himself in a remote area of the Olympic Peninsula coast in Washington State. He has come to look for his wife, Maggie, who has been troubled by a disturbing discovery at the archaeological site where she is working. After recovering at the home of Sandra Torrel, whose mysterious husband bears a disturbing family secret, Mark learns of a succession of terrifying events in the little town of Neah Bay that seem connected with the nearby excavation. Why are archaeologists Paul Radwick and Ken Matsamura so secretive about what may have been unearthed? Can their discovery have something to do with an appalling incident of nearly a century ago that has begun to haunt the present? In this chilling novel, Philip Haldeman evokes the rugged seacoast, eerie rainforests, small-town confines, and human interrelationships of a remote corner of the Pacific Northwest, all within a ghostly tale of horror that not only brings to mind the best work of H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood, but whose themes of love, loyalty, and conflict will satisfy a wide variety of readers.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Admirers of atmospheric, subtle horror will relish Haldeman's intelligent and chilling debut, which succeeds in evoking the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft without resorting to cheap imitation. California architect Mark Sayres, worried about the mental state of his wife, Maggie, who has been working on an archeological dig on a Washington State island, offers to serve as navigator on a small ship in exchange for transport to the dig. A powerful storm wrecks the ship just off the island, leaving Sayres the sole survivor. As he begins to recover from his ordeal, he's shocked to learn that Maggie has disappeared and that she's only the latest island resident to do so. Despite his rationalist bent, the architect is forced to consider the existence of the supernatural after he has visions of one of his lost shipmates, whose apparent resurrection may be tied to a primitive superstition centering on an evil sea deity. The author's vivid evocation of the bleakness and isolation of the remote Pacific Northwest will remind some of Algernon Blackwood's classic tale "The Wendigo."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
College Professor,
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This review is from: Shadow Coast (Paperback)
I purchased this book along with several others from Amazon and I had planned to read this particular one at a later date. But I was hooked after the first few sentences. For the next few days every free moment was devoted to finding out what in the world would happen next. And the reader is never disappointed right up to the breathtaking ending, when like the main character in the book, one becomes "all out of fear."
This book is a great read and very entertaining. The descriptions of ocean mist enshrouded cliffs, fog-filled pine forests, and the eerie abandoned logging roads of the Northwest coast provide the environment to weaken rational expectations about what must be real. The character development is also excellent. My favorite was the slow but steady disintegration of the categories of understanding of the so-sure rational anthropologist who ends up taking decisive non-scientific action to end the onslaught of events he does not believe are possible. In sympathetic hands this book would make a great movie.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eerie, atmospheric, and subtly horrific -- this one will keep you up at night!,
By
This review is from: Shadow Coast (Paperback)
California architect Mark Sayres is on his way to the Pacific Northwest to retrieve his wife, Maggie, when the yacht he's traveling on is in a terrible accident at sea. Mark is hoping to get to Maggie as soon as possible; she's working at an archeological dig near the small island town of Neah Bay, and the last time he spoke to her she sounded strange. After recovering at the home of Sandra Torrel, Mark learns that Maggie has disappeared from the island without a trace. Hundreds of volunteers have been searching for her for days, with no luck. Maggie, though, is only the most recent person to disappear from the island; Sandra Torrel's husband is also missing, along with a string of others. And then, as the fog moves over the island, cloaking it to the point of invisibility, the missing begin to reappear against all odds, and there are whisperings that an ancient Native American evil has awakened from a century-long slumber...
SHADOW COAST's real strength lies in author Philip Haldeman's breathtaking physical descriptions, which evoke mist-laced beaches, verdant, dark forests, and an eerie coastal town brilliantly. These stunning descriptions are relayed with better-than-average prose in a tale of quiet horror. The novel moves along at a nice pace, and I could really feel the tension and fear in the narrative. The inclusion of Native American mysticism in the novel just made it ten times scarier for me. While the novel's eerie atmosphere is clearly its strength, the characters are also well-fleshed-out and engaging. Haldeman does an excellent job of balancing Mark's grief with his desire to find out the truth, and he effectively relays Mark's internal struggle. Some of the more minor characters are equally fascinating; I really found myself trying to uncover some of the more mysterious characters' motivations and secrets. SHADOW COAST isn't an in-your-face horror novel, not by any means. The horror here is quiet, subtle, soft as the fog in which it comes. It's psychological horror as much as it is physical, and it is relayed in a way that will send chills down your spine. And SHADOW COAST'S ending just blew me away; it almost reads like a really good horror movie ending -- twisty, unexpected, slightly repulsive, something you'll be thinking and talking about for days to come. SHADOW COAST was a deliciously scary treat, and I can't wait to see what Philip Haldeman does next!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow,
This review is from: Shadow Coast (Paperback)
A fantastic book. At once relentlessly paced, eerie, and terrifying, it's easily one of the most memorable horror novels I've read. The claustrophobia of a small town, the bleak forests and coastline, the mysterious mythologies of the Native American culture, and the increasingly bizarre and horrifying storyline combine to create something seriously original and engaging. Great, great stuff.
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