Valley of Lights [Paperback]

Stephen Gallagher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1989

A routine call to a sleazy Phoenix hotel throws police sergeant Alex Volchak into a world where the brain-dead check themselves out of hospital, and a stranger can seem to know the most intimate details of his life. Like his feelings for Loretta, the neighbour who's more than a friend, and her daughter Georgina, so much the child he never had. Volchak finds himself on the hunt for a child killer, someone who can apparently switch bodies with ease, and who is playing games with the police. And then Georgina is taken. "The best fusion of crime and horror since Hjortsberg's "Falling Angel" ... ordinary police procedures can't begin to cope with this" Time Out "An excellent thriller ... a cracking pace ... large helpings of deadpan gallows humour ... a genuine ability to create a sense of evil" Glasgow Evening News

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best fusion of crime and horror since Hjortsberg's "Falling Angel" ... ordinary police procedures can't begin to cope with this" Time Out
"An excellent thriller ... a cracking pace ... large helpings of deadpan gallows humour ... a genuine ability to create a sense of evil" Glasgow Evening News
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Stephen Gallagher was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1954. He studied drama and English at Hull in the mid-70s before working briefly as a documentaries researcher for YTV, and then moving to Granada Television's presentation department with the aim of becoming a drama director. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square; New Edition edition (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0450422682
• ISBN-13: 978-0450422683
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,468,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent cop v.s monster story., September 30, 2002

By 

G. Van Der Bent "Gerb" (Katwijk, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Valley of Lights (Paperback)

The above pretty well sums it up. That's why I don't want to spend too many words on this book. Trust me, if you like cop procedurals and/ or demonic possession stories you're pretty safe buying this.

The cop versus monster story is a somewhat peculiar subgenre (in my opinion anyway). I myself like it and I can think of a few more examples besides VALLEY OF LIGHTS which will be more than worth your time. Think Gary Brandner's CAMERON'S CLOSET and DOOMSTALKER and movies like Denzel Washington's FALLEN and the more obscure, but extremely enjoyable SIXTH POWER starring, above all people; Lou Diamond Phillips.

Anyway, back to VALLEY OF LIGHTS. It's a fast, short read with an adrenaline rush of a pace and some pretty good plottwists. Stephen Gallagher shows that's he's more than capable with the horror and gore elements and you wouldn't know that he's British judging from this Arizona based and a 100 percent American cop story.
I can also understand why he's moved on to more mainstream thriller efforts like RED,RED ROBIN and DOWN RIVER. His style's really accessable. I like him, I like his writing, and not only because he used to be a staffwriter on the original DOCTOR WHO tv-series.

I'll be reading more of his work in the future, meanwhile VALLEY OF LIGHTS is an excellent starting point, if you want to be introduced to this more than excellent writer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun stuff!, December 7, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Valley of Lights (Paperback)

I would also put this in a special category, cop vs. monster. It is solid, fun stuff...up there with that classic 1970's work by Leslie H. Whitten "Progeny of the Adder" and a small cut above the 'Repairman Jack' novels by F. Paul Wilson. Folks, this kind of classic, 'horror pulp' writing is long overdue for a comeback (maybe Harry Shannon's 2002 shriek-fest "Night of the Beast" is the harbinger; let's hope so) and in the meanwhile, we should all be supporting the genre by digging up these older, cooler novels and re-reading them. "Valley of Lights" is cool and classic. Go for it.

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE "Out of His Mind", January 24, 2012

By 

Dreamer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valley of Lights (Kindle Edition)

THIS is an amazing book. It's my first time ever reading a book from this author & I must say, I'll be reading his books more from here on in.

As for the first story "Magpie" in "Out of His Mind", one learns that if you don't listen when someone is trying to warn you about something & you get hurt, let alone killed, well guess what? You brought it on yourself. That's what poor Thomas tried to do. Thomas is a good kid, smart too. Keith, a friend of Thomas's, is a bit slow (he seems fine to me), but a good kid too. Kelly on the other hand, is a ever-hating bully. Always picking on Thomas. Had Kelly ever heard of the phrase "God don't like ugly", MAYBE he would've never been the bully he was & maybe most surely would've listened to Thomas when he told Kelly that he needed to change route due to the path being washed away. But did he listen? Nooooo. He's lucky to be alive, but he'll never bully anyone else again. He'll be too busy feeling sorry for himself after having lost a leg. Thomas, being the nice, kind person that he is, tried warning Kelly, but to no avail.

This story had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would come next & sad when the story came to an end. But no matter, I've got more stories to read from this book & I look forward to every single one. Hooray to Steve Gallagher. He's one amazing author. I know you can't make everyone happy when it comes to books & such, but as far as I'm concerned, this author is at the top of my list & will be staying there for a long time to come.

Thanks Mr. Gallagher

With story # 2 "By the River, Fontainbleau", well, that one creeped me out & that's a good thing. That's how you know you've got a story that was very well written. In this story, to actually step foot on that property, took a lot of guts. I don't know what Antoine had, but it sure wasn't guts. I'll never understand what was going through his mind when he chose to stay there, but one thing's for sure. I would've just turned around & run & NEVER looked back, never mind gone back.

Who was Lise REALLY? One will never know. I kind of felt sorry for Antoine, after what his friend witnessed inside the house & recognized the joint as that of Lise's. Holy cow, they ATE her. UGH!!!!

Like I said, this story is REALLY, REALLY creepy. Great story, but oh so very creepy. :-)

Story #3 "Not Here, Not Now" - What a jerk, to put it nicely. Where did he think he was, running the Indy 500? Deadly speed. That's how he drives. Like he's the only one on the road & God help anyone who gets in his way.

Mother & child crossing. What to do? To me, he could've choseen differently. But he didn't. Mother or child? He chose the child & immediately chose to blame both Mother AND child, when the only one to blame was him. It was all his fault & he knew it, but would never admit to it.

This person is like Kelly in the first story who never heard of the phrase, "God don't like ugly", let alone "Payback's a _______". And boy was it. :-D That'll teach him.

Once again, I must reiterate, Steven Gallagher is by far, one of the BEST authors whose books I've had the pleasure of reading. I like horror stories more, than the usual moosh, moosh, kiss, kiss, kind of books. I love page turners & Mr. Gallagher is a page worth turning. Thanks.