Victoria McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety old covered bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be.
Charles Talent Manx has a gift of his own. He likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2. In the Wraith, he and his innocent guests can slip out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that lead to an astonishing playground of amusements he calls Christmasland. The journey across the highway of Charlie's twisted imagination transforms his precious passengers, leaving them as terrifying and unstoppable as their benefactor.
Then comes the day when Vic goes looking for trouble...and finds her way to Charlie. That was a lifetime ago. Now, the only kid ever to …
Victoria McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety old covered bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be.
Charles Talent Manx has a gift of his own. He likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2. In the Wraith, he and his innocent guests can slip out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that lead to an astonishing playground of amusements he calls Christmasland. The journey across the highway of Charlie's twisted imagination transforms his precious passengers, leaving them as terrifying and unstoppable as their benefactor.
Then comes the day when Vic goes looking for trouble...and finds her way to Charlie. That was a lifetime ago. Now, the only kid ever to escape Charlie's evil is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx hasn't stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. On the road again, he won't slow down until he's taken his revenge. He's after something very special—something Vic can never replace.
As a life-and-death battle of wills builds, Vic McQueen prepares to destroy Charlie once and for all—or die trying.
Ich habe das ohne Vorinformation gelesen und daher erst gedacht, es ist ein Vampirroman, das ist aber nicht der Fall, zumindest nicht im klassischen Sinn. Kann man gut weglesen und das Konzept von mentalen Landschaften ist interessant und schön plastisch geschrieben. Mit ein paar weniger Klischees wäre es noch besser gewesen.
Mostly good This book was recommended by a good friend and I enjoy thrillers so I figured I'd give it a shot. I picked up the audio book from my local library and jumped in.
It didn't grab me right away but I think that may have had more to do with the narration than the story. Ms. Mulgrew was fantastic for most of the voices but there were at least two that made me want to turn it off and not go back. But I wanted to finish the book and chat about it with my buddy so I gritted my teeth and stuck it out.
I thought the concept was really interesting - certain people being able to project their internal realities into physical reality tied in with serial killing, child abduction, and vampirism. The main characters - protagonist and antagonist - were moderately interesting.
…
Mostly good This book was recommended by a good friend and I enjoy thrillers so I figured I'd give it a shot. I picked up the audio book from my local library and jumped in.
It didn't grab me right away but I think that may have had more to do with the narration than the story. Ms. Mulgrew was fantastic for most of the voices but there were at least two that made me want to turn it off and not go back. But I wanted to finish the book and chat about it with my buddy so I gritted my teeth and stuck it out.
I thought the concept was really interesting - certain people being able to project their internal realities into physical reality tied in with serial killing, child abduction, and vampirism. The main characters - protagonist and antagonist - were moderately interesting.
While I enjoyed the book, I didn't love it. Besides the narration (it was Bing and Lou which bothered me the most), the writing style and some word choices (Wayne's voice didn't ring true for me) made it really hard for me to stay immersed in the story.
I'm glad that I stuck it out because the last few chapters made it a worthwhile read but I don't know that I'd read another book by this author.
