04 August 2006

Book Banter -- Pale Immortal


Title: Pale Immortal

Author: Anne Frasier
Length: ~360 pages*
Genre: thriller/horror
Plot Basics: In the small town of Tuonela Wisc., a legend exists about the Pale Immortal, a killer that resembled a vampire. Now, 16-year-old Graham Yates is dumped off in Tuonela to meet his father. But Graham shows up around the same time as a dead body. And the cause of death, determined by medical examiner Rachel Burton, points to signs that the Pale Immortal may be back. Rachel, Graham and the town's mysterious researcher Evan Stroud all end up tangled in the investigation of the murder and a fight for their lives.
Banter Points: WOW. Word Nerd's guilty little reading pleasure is vampire stories but this one takes the cake for the best one she's read in a long time. It's a great horror book because it doesn't make you turn on all the lights and look for things that will leap out of dark corners at you: lights on or off, the scary part of this book is all in your head.

Evan Stroud is a fascinating and complex character. Word Nerd can't say too much about him without giving away plot, but he made the book.

All those back-of-book-cover snippets like "hard to put down," "a real page-turner" etc, absolutely apply.

Bummer Points: Frasier's at work on a sequel but Word Nerd's going to have to wait for more than a year before that will be available.

Word Nerd recommendation: Pale Immortal releases on Sept. 5. Go buy it. In the meantime, check out www.paleimmortal.blogspot.com to read the first chapter and see some photos Frasier took of the real Tuonela Wisc.

*Word Nerd read an advanced reader copy of this book. An ARC is actually a set of uncorrected proofs, so the final page count can/will vary from the number in the ARC.

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