Amazon.com Review
"The woods watched. The trees held their breath, as if afraid to startle away the timid visitor to this secret place. But Abby felt no impulse to flee this quiet place. Just the opposite, in fact. She'd found a new secret place of her own." With the horrors hidden in Abby's secret place,
Wither offers a promising debut horror novel from screenwriter J.G. Passarella.
Wendy Ward, student at Windale, Massachusett's Danfield College, is smitten with all things New Age and magical. When not at home (her dad is the president of the college, so it is a nice home) she whiles away her days in the Crystal Path, a shop full of tarot decks, books on witchcraft, and assorted herbs. Her life seems typical for an offbeat, careworn coed. But as readers learn from the other two primary characters of the novel, something evil is awakening in Windale. First, 8-year-old Abby MacNeil has some terrifyingly vivid dreams that lead her to discover the gravestones of legendary 17th-century witches. Then, Professor Karen Glazer, an unwed expectant mother, begins to see visions of goblins attacking her unborn child. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that Wendy's apparently harmless rituals have tapped into--and unleashed--the aged forces of evil that had been buried in colonial America. --Patrick O'Kelley
From Publishers Weekly
Sabrina the Teenage Witch goes to college in this atmospheric, generally suspenseful horror story. Wendy Ward is a white magic practitioner who dresses in shades of black, and an unconventional freshman at exclusive Danfield College in Massachusetts, where her father is president. Windale, the town where Danfield is located, has been promoting its past persecution of witches as a tourist draw, hoping to cash in on the popularity of nearby Salem. On the eve of the King Frost Halloween Parade, Wendy performs an empowering ritual that goes awry, unleashing dark forces hundreds of years old. Three murderous Macbethian witches, led by the semi-immortal Elizabeth Wither, begin to haunt Wendy's dreams, as well as those of a pregnant English professor and an eight-year-old girl. As it becomes apparent that there is a curse on Windale, Wendy desperately attempts to reverse what she's started and finds herself drawn ineluctably toward the evil she's trying to control. While the authentic arcana of witchcraft provides background, the plot is derivative, with hints of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist. Yet the college setting adds an interesting dimension, and the characters are nicely delineated. Although this unusual mix of horror story, thriller and college romance is likely to draw protests from serious followers of ancient wicca rites, readers who savor supernatural menace will enjoy its edge. (Feb.) FYI: J.G. Passarella is the pseudonym for two Hollywood writers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
