Rook (Bk. 1)

Graham Masterton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

England's prolific Masterton (Flights of Fear, 1996, etc.) begins a new horror series featuring Jim Rook, a California psychic who teaches a remedial class in a San Fernando Valley high school. A bout of pneumonia that nearly killed him as a child has granted Rook psychic insight, though he doesn't realize it. One morning he interrupts a bloody battle in the boys' room between Tee Jay Jones and Elvin P. Clay. Then Rook discovers Elvin's body in a boiler room, with 112 stab wounds. Tee Jay is arrested, but Rook sees a black-suited man flitting about the halls and at the scene of the murder--though no one else can see this figure. Jim's palm-reading neighbor, Mrs. Vaizey, tries to awaken him to his greater psychic abilities, which Jim denies. Meanwhile, he leads his class through On the Road. Then the shadow man, a.k.a. The Smoke, approaches Jim and tells him that he needs his help. Jim is sure that Tee Jay's Uncle Umber, a follower of voodoo, is Elvin's murderer, and that The Smoke is somehow connected to Umber. When Mrs. Vaizey goes out-of-body to help Jim by infiltrating Uncle Umber's apartment, Jim watches in horror as she is killed in a particularly gruesome manner. The Smoke also begins appearing in Jim's classroom; at first only Jim and Tee Jay can see him, although the other kids eventually also become aware of him. Uncle Umber wants Jim to act as his messenger to a leading drug dealer and to tell him that he wants 90 percent of the dealer's take on every shipment. The Smoke, it turns out, is Umber's uncanny henchman. In the end, only Jim and his students can stand up to The Smoke, by robbing Uncle Umber of the voodoo stick that focuses his power. A sympathetic, poetry-reading hero provides Masterton with many better-than-average pages. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Jim Rook, a remedial teacher, is able to see ghosts and other spirits. When one of his pupils is arrested for murder, Jim is sure he saw Tee Jay's corrupt uncle Umber at the scene. It transpires that Umber used a voodoo out-of-body technique, so Jim uses the same technique to challenge Umber.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727849913
• ISBN-13: 978-0727849915
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,147,086 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars the weakest book in the rook series., June 8, 2002

By	R. Recchia "the handsome bug" (Ithaca, ny) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My intro to GRAHAM MASTERTON and the ROOK series was SNOWMAN,
a book I enjoyed quite a bit and it made me want to read the other books in the ROOK series. So far, I've read SWIMMER, ROOK
and THE TERROR and ROOK is easily my
least favorite so far. I enjoyed the book, but it really does
have some major flaws. First of all, this SMOKE spirit is kind
of stupid..and annoying. He doesn't want JIM ROOK to tell any-
body about him, yet he shows up in his classroom and taunts him
there, right in front of the students. I mean, these kids may not
be too bright, but anybody would figure out that ROOK wasn't
merely talking to himself! I think the reason MASTERTON wrote it
this way was so ROOK's students could get involved more in the
story! I also think the identity of the
killer is revealed too soon in the book; indeed' it's actually
revealed on the front flap of the book and this takes away from
any suspense! JIM ROOK seems to accept very quickly that he can
see ghosts and spirits! There are other minor flaws, also. I did
enjoy the book and there are some gruesome things that go on
during the story, but this series got much better, especially
with THE TERROR, which I just got through reading and is now
my favorite book of the series.