For
the second time, paranormal event cataloguer, Eve Abernathy and her lover, the
man-who-spoke-to-ghosts, Lucien Thorpe are on the verge of getting married. And it’s
Eve’s sincere hope that this time absentminded Lucien will not let himself get
distracted by some paranormal phenomenon and forget to turn up at the altar. Fortunately,
some of their fellow experts in this unusual field as well as members of the Plummerville
Ghost Society are at hand to make sure of this. Or so poor Eve thinks.
But,
as usual, just before the wedding, Lucien hears of an abandoned hotel which is supposed to
be a hotbed for ghosts and takes himself off there for some research. Poor Eve is once
again left waiting alone at the altar, only this time a note arrives. “I didn’t
forget” it says over and over again, chillingly in several different handwritings.
Eve, whose faith in her lover is immeasurable, knows that something terrible has happened
to Lucien, and she immediately sets off for the hotel, together with members of the ghost
society and other fellow experts in this field.
They
arrive at this dark, mysterious and malevolent hotel only to find Lucien possessed by the
spirit of a most ominous and very powerful dark spirit. Lucien is slowly dying and the
spirit now has them all trapped in this god-forsaken place of death and pain. Can Eve’s
love be enough to bring her man back from the brink of death? What will happen to the poor
members of the ghost society who’re suddenly faced with an overabundance of nasty
spirits?!
Will
Eve and Lucien ever get married?
Linda
Fallon continues the saga of these two most unusual protagonists from the previous and
first book in this series, “Shades of Midnight”. The characterizations of
Eve and Lucien are superb as usual, but this time there are many additional and equally
interesting side characters to add to the drama and excitement. Also, in this book, Eve
and Lucien are faced many spirits, but one more dangerous than the rest combined. And
naturally, the atmosphere of this book is especially fraught with hair-raising
scenarios as well as spooky phenomenon. With Lucien most of
times possessed by this malevolent spirit, it is Eve who has to bear the brunt of the
trauma and agonize over their combined fate. There is plenty of struggle; dilemmas that
each character in the book has to face as well as overcome if they’re to ever escape
this accursed hotel. Tension, danger and evil seep through the pages, as the author
expertly creates terrifying scenes and situations. There is also romance-a-plenty not just
between Lucien and Eve, but also between various other side characters, and this provides
a most welcome relief from the all-prevalent menace. Eerie and enchanting, this Linda
Fallon book is well written, well plotted and well presented, and the reader (preferably
stout-hearted enough to read through the terrifying scenes) will not be able to put down
this book!
Reviewed
By Rashmi Srinivas for The Road to Romance
October
8, 2003 |
