Shimmer [Paperback]

John Passarella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2009

Logan Walker has a gift. He senses supernatural trouble before it happens. But when his special talent predicts hell on earth, he knows his gift has become a nightmare for him and his unusual family. Possessing various paranormal abilities, the Walkers have, through generations spanning thousands of years, protected the human race from supernatural predators. These creatures enter our world through dimensional rifts and must be defeated or returned to their world before wreaking havoc in our own. But the Walkers have suffered a long war of attrition and their numbers have dwindled. They are at their weakest when our world faces its greatest threat. And time is running out. Praise for Bram Stoker Award-Winner John Passarella WITHER "Chilling" -Seventeen WITHER'S RAIN "Thrilling" -Maggie Shayne WITHER'S LEGACY "Books by John Passarella make it very difficult to sleep at night." -Huntress Reviews KINDRED SPIRIT "Excellent." -Horror World

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Passarella won the Horror Writers Association's prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for the coauthored Wither. Columbia Pictures purchased the feature film rights to Wither in a prepublication, preemptive bid. Barnesandnoble.com named the paperback edition of Wither one of horror's "Best of 2000." At Amazon.com, Wither was an Editor's Choice and a horror bestseller. John's other novels include Wither's Rain: A Wendy Ward Novel, Wither's Legacy: A Wendy Ward Novel, Kindred Spirit, and the original media tie-in novels Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghoul Trouble (a Locus bestseller), Angel: Avatar and Angel: Monolith. An active member of the Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org), the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (www.sfwa.org), the Authors Guild (authorsguild.org), and the Garden State Horror Writers (www.gshw.net), John resides in Logan Township, New Jersey, with his wife and three children. Visit John Passarella's official Website: www.passarella.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (July 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1448648564
• ISBN-13: 978-1448648566
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,294,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When I was ten or eleven, I started telling stories by drawing them. (To this day, drawing and doodling helps open up my creative side for storytelling. Once in college, during a very boring lecture, I doodled in the margins of my spiral-bound notebook and those doodles eventually turned into a complete science fiction novel manuscript.) By twelve, I began typing one page stories. Into high school and college, I was writing short novel manuscripts.

My first novel, the co-authored WITHER (by "J.G. Passarella") won the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Columbia Pictures bought the feature film rights. I followed up with two stand-alone sequels, WITHER'S RAIN and WITHER'S LEGACY (Wendy Ward novels), plus the paranormal thriller KINDRED SPIRIT and SHIMMER. In addition, I've authored four original media tie-in novels, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: GHOUL TROUBLE, ANGEL: AVATAR, ANGEL: MONOLITH and SUPERNATURAL: NIGHT TERROR. (Look for SUPERNATURAL: RITE OF PASSAGE August 2012.) My fiction collection EXIT STRATEGY & OTHERS (with two new novelettes) is now available for Kindle.

I graduated from Interboro High School (Prospect Park, PA) and Widener University (Chester, PA). Currently, I live in New Jersey with my wife, three children, a dog and a cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shimmer gives me shivers!, July 22, 2009

By 

Detra Fitch "Always hunting good books." (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shimmer (Paperback)

For thousands of years various branches of the Walker family throughout the world have been responsible for finding and sealing rifts in our space-time continuum. Over the course of millennia and thousands of rifts, they have become experts. Often creatures from the other planes, referred to as Outsiders, have crossed over to our world. Some are harmless and the Walkers help them return to their home planes. Some are violent or otherwise dangerous and if the Walkers cannot make them return to their home planes, then the Walkers must find a way to destroy them. Each Walker member develops at least one paranormal talent and trains to use it to defend our world. They are our dimensional security. But their numbers are dwindling.

Young Logan Walker is a douser. He knows when something horrible is about to happen. The sicker Logan feels, the worse the event will be. When his talent tells him that something horrible is about to happen in Hadenford, New Jersey, the family quickly relocates to the town and begins searching for rifts. Another talent of Logan's is to recognize other people with paranormal abilities. On his first day at his new high school, Logan meets Fallon Maguire.

Fallon is astounded to realize that she had sketched Logan's face in her dream journal two weeks prior to meeting him. After speaking with Logan's great-grandfather, Ambrose, Fallon learns that prescient dreaming is not her only talent. Fallon is "unbound", which basically means her powers may grow and/or other talents may develop during her life. She has unlimited potential.

Oily black rifts are appearing in Hadenford and something is reaching out to slaughter people or pull them into the rifts. Thalia, one of the Walkers whose mind is crippled due to a journey through a rift, paints horrible pictures of blood and destruction while babbling about the coming of the Butcher, the Reaper of Flesh. Each time the rift appears it is larger than the time before. Eventually, the rift will be wide enough to allow the Reaper passage into our dimension. Hell is tired of waiting and has found a way to come for us.

***** FIVE STARS! Pleasant dreams will be all but impossible as you read this incredible story. The Outsider in this tale kills without a scintilla of remorse and in unique ways. This book could very well be the first of a new series. (No, I have not heard that it will be, but I can sure hope!) There are more Walkers than I mention in my synopsis. Each character is well developed and has at least one interesting ability. This is a very intense story. I could not read fast enough and was eager to find out what would happen next.

For now this book is only available electronically; however, the author's web site states that a paperback version will be available via Amazon's online store soon. I am going to add the link for the future print version (though it is not up on Amazon as of yet). I urge all fans of horror or the paranormal to purchase a copy. Shimmer gives me shivers! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a superb horror urban fantasy, August 4, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shimmer (Paperback)

As their ancestors have done for millennia, the extended Walker family conscientiously closes the holes ripped into the space-time continuum by beings from other planes. Some get through in spite of the efforts of the dependable Walkers who each have a unique paranormal skill. Those Outsiders who are harmless and harmlessly crossed are helped back; those who are dangerous are escorted back more diligently or destroyed before they cause harm on earth.

However, the Walker population is shrinking and increasingly finding it difficult to accomplish their mission. Douser Logan Walker expects something horrific will soon occur in Hadenford, New Jersey. His family moves to the town in search of rifts to patch before the disaster happens. At his new high school, Logan meets for the first time KINDRED SPIRIT Fallon Maguire, who sketched his face in her dream journal two weeks ago. She consults with Logan's great-grandfather, Ambrose, who explains she has a talent unlike most people. The rifts are getting darker, slimier, and harder to seal. Thalia Walker has just returned after being pulled through a rift with her brain damaged; she paints horrible pictures of blood and gore while proclaiming the Butcher Reaper of Flesh is coming.

This is a super urban fantasy that grips the audience throughout; as the Black Rift over New Jersey keeps coming back wider and wider leaving fans and the Walker brood expecting doom as their hope WITHERS away. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action while the Walker family especially Logan seems genuine as soldiers fighting the Outsiders. John Passarella provides his fans with a strong good vs. bad thriller with the malevolent crowd the stronger bet to triumph.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shimmer gives me shivers!, July 16, 2009

By 

Detra Fitch "Always hunting good books." (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shimmer (Kindle Edition)

For thousands of years various branches of the Walker family throughout the world have been responsible for finding and sealing rifts in our space-time continuum. Over the course of millennia and thousands of rifts, they have become experts. Often creatures from the other planes, referred to as Outsiders, have crossed over to our world. Some are harmless and the Walkers help them return to their home planes. Some are violent or otherwise dangerous and if the Walkers cannot make them return to their home planes, then the Walkers must find a way to destroy them. Each Walker member develops at least one paranormal talent and trains to use it to defend our world. They are our dimensional security. But their numbers are dwindling.

Young Logan Walker is a douser. He knows when something horrible is about to happen. The sicker Logan feels, the worse the event will be. When his talent tells him that something horrible is about to happen in Hadenford, New Jersey, the family quickly relocates to the town and begins searching for rifts. Another talent of Logan's is to recognize other people with paranormal abilities. On his first day at his new high school, Logan meets Fallon Maguire.

Fallon is astounded to realize that she had sketched Logan's face in her dream journal two weeks prior to meeting him. After speaking with Logan's great-grandfather, Ambrose, Fallon learns that prescient dreaming is not her only talent. Fallon is "unbound", which basically means her powers may grow and/or other talents may develop during her life. She has unlimited potential.

Oily black rifts are appearing in Hadenford and something is reaching out to slaughter people or pull them into the rifts. Thalia, one of the Walkers whose mind is crippled due to a journey through a rift, paints horrible pictures of blood and destruction while babbling about the coming of the Butcher, the Reaper of Flesh. Each time the rift appears it is larger than the time before. Eventually, the rift will be wide enough to allow the Reaper passage into our dimension. Hell is tired of waiting and has found a way to come for us.

***** FIVE STARS! Pleasant dreams will be all but impossible as you read this incredible story. The Outsider in this tale kills without a scintilla of remorse and in unique ways. This book could very well be the first of a new series. (No, I have not heard that it will be, but I can sure hope!) There are more Walkers than I mention in my synopsis. Each character is well developed and has at least one interesting ability. This is a very intense story. I could not read fast enough and was eager to find out what would happen next.

For now this book is only available electronically; however, the author's web site states that a paperback version will be available via Amazon's online store soon. I urge all fans of horror or the paranormal to purchase a copy. Shimmer gives me shivers! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.