True Believer (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Jeremy Marsh sat with the rest of the live studio audience, feeling unusually conspicuous..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Boone Creek, Mayor Gherkin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Charming, divorced Jeremy Marsh is a rising star. As a dashing, successful 37-year-old Manhattan science journalist, his skeptical scrutiny of ineffective antidepressants, cults and television clairvoyants has caught the eye of North Carolina restaurant owner Doris McClellan, who invites Jeremy to bucolic Boone Creek to scoop the story of eerie mystery lights appearing in an ancient cemetery. A diviner who can predict the sex of unborn babies, Doris suspects the lights are a ghostly curse. Her beautiful librarian granddaughter, Lexie Darnell, makes a lovely, if guarded, tour guide as Jeremy revs up his electromagnetic equipment for the ghost hunt. After witnessing the ethereal graveside lights, both grow closer, much to the chagrin of local deputy Rodney Hopper, who wants Lexie for himself. Guided by sage Doris and manipulated by meddling mayor Tom Gherkin, big-city Jeremy and smalltown Lexie find that trepidation about their differences somehow manages to bloom into love. Jeremy eventually uncovers the hidden truth behind the glowing graveyard fog and departs the lush gothic environs for New York. Can love bridge the gap? Sparks (The Wedding) delivers another shrink-wrapped, reliably uncomplicated romantic confection that's light as air, smooth as silk and gloriously sweet. Agent, Theresa Park. (One-day laydown Apr. 12)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

New York skeptic Jeremy Marsh makes his living exposing frauds in the articles he writes for Scientific American. His latest target is a famous psychic who claims to speak to the dead. The acclaim he receives for his expose places Jeremy in the public eye with an appearance on national television. Jeremy then travels to Boone Creek, North Carolina, to search for the truth behind the mysterious lights that appear in the local cemetery. The legend is that an old curse causes the spirits to wander, and now the town wants to capitalize on the phenomena to bring in badly needed tourist dollars. But Doris McClellan, the local psychic, wants the lights debunked, and asks Jeremy to investigate. What Jeremy doesn't count on is falling for Doris' granddaughter, Lexie, the town librarian. Lexie has had enough of smooth-talking city men, and shields her heart, but Jeremy keeps trying to penetrate her tough shell. Lexie never wants to leave Boone Creek, and she believes that Jeremy will never want to stay. Although Sparks' latest starts with great potential, the main characters feel cool and distant; it is the secondary characters who embody the warmth and verve that usually mark Sparks' best-sellers. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446532436
• ISBN-13: 978-0446532433
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (219 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite Sparks books but worth reading for fans, April 20, 2005

By	Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

TRUE BELIEVER by Nicholas Sparks
March 25, 2005

In Nicholas Sparks' latest novel, TRUE BELIEVER, Jeremy Marsh is a science journalist whose forte is debunking supernatural phenomenon using science and technology. His latest challenge is to solve the mystery behind the rumors of ghosts living in a cemetery in the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina. When he starts to fall in love with the local psychic's granddaughter, she does her best to dissuade him, knowing they come from different worlds and that nothing would come of this romance.

TRUE BELIEVER is a departure for Sparks, in that this is not a tragedy. It is a straightforward story of a man who is trying to solve the mystery of the ghosts in Cedar Creek Cemetery, and in the midst of working, he meets Lexie Darnell, a woman who has been hurt in the past and is afraid to love again. The two are worlds apart in terms of background, but he feels that they have a chance to make a go at it.

Lexie believes in the ghosts, as do many of the town's people. If Jeremy finds the solution to this puzzle, it would change life in Boone Creek and possibly ruin any chances Jeremy has with Lexie. But he continues on, wanting to prove that yet again he can solve any mystery that involves the supernatural.

I enjoyed this book, but it's not going to be a favorite. I have always enjoyed Sparks' tragedies (in particular MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE). TRUE BELIEVER was a well-written novel, but it lacks the "oomph" that is characteristic of his stories. The most enjoyable part of this story was the mystery behind the ghosts, but I in particular enjoyed the characters that filled the pages. Sparks always does a good job with the characters that grace the pages of his novels, and while the plot itself may lack something, TRUE BELIEVER is worth the read for any Sparks fan.

61 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not for me, May 12, 2005

By	M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are a Sparks fan, you were probably prepared for this. I was not. The PW description seduced me into thinking it was a story about journalist investigating mysterious lights. It isn't. The lights serve only to get Our Hero to the place where he meets cliched smart beautiful librarian, so that he can ultimately embrace the charms of rural life.

Now, just about every romance formula is done over and over, and if it is done well, I enjoy it over and over. I did not think this was done well. The characters were all surface; there was no apparent reason for Hero to fall for this particular woman or she for him (except that pickings are slim in a very small town). And it struck me as being purely anti-moderniist/technological -- a tiny backwater town equated with all that is good. (the concomitant bad thinks about the small town did not figure in). On the whole, I would rate this similarly to a Danielle Steele, which is negative to me but of course, in the eyes of many, a high compliment.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Generally liked it, but I was a little underwhelmed..., May 21, 2005

By	Angela Dalecki (NightsandWeekends.com) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I became a fan of Nicholas Sparks about three years ago, when I read A Walk to Remember a few months before the movie debuted. I cried for a week. The Notebook reduced me to a sobbing wreck as well. So when I sat down to read his newest novel, True Believer, I made sure I was well-stocked with plenty of Kleenex. I was surprised to find I didn't need them.

The story is typical of Sparks' tried-and-true style of star-crossed lovers: Jeremy Marsh is a hotshot New York journalist whose life revolves around his career. His current stories involve researching (and debunking) the supernatural-when we first meet Jeremy, he's working on uncovering the sly tricks of Timothy Clausen, a John Edward-type "spirit guide." His next big story brings him to Boone Creek, North Carolina, to investigate a legend of ghostly lights in the town's cemetery. The small town of Boone Creek is pretty much the polar opposite of New York City, and Jeremy plans to get the heck out of there as soon as his research is complete.

Of course, things aren't always as easy as all that. While researching, Jeremy ends up meeting a young girl named Lexie, who runs the town library. Over the course of the week or so that Jeremy is in Boone Creek, they become friends and Jeremy quickly falls head over heels in love with her. Of course, their relationship is ultimately doomed-their homes and lifestyles are completely different, and Lexie doesn't want to give up her small, quiet life in Boone Creek any more than Jeremy wants to give up his career and fast-paced life in New York. It would take a miracle for their relationship to work-the type of miracle Jeremy doesn't believe in.

I generally like Nicholas Sparks' work, and I generally liked this book. It's not a cry-fest like some of his other novels have been, and it probably won't be one of his best-remembered books, but it's a sweet story. Despite its tendency to get a tad predictable (you can tell from the beginning that a schmaltzy ending is in store), it still works and leaves you with an overall good feeling. It's a quick read, and it's fast-paced enough to stay interesting. Overall, True Believer is a little something like an after-dinner mint-not much substance, but it's light and sweet and, in the end, leaves you generally satisfied.