Author: T.L. Hines
Cover Artist: Paul Higdon
Publisher: Bethany House
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2007
This book is put out by one of my favorite publishing houses, Bethany House. T.L. Hines offers us stories set in the real world twisted with a bit of the supernatural. The beginning of this particular story was a little creepy in a “Friday Fright Nite” sort of way (the kind that gives you shivers but not nightmares). As I delved into the story, I couldn’t put it down. From the introduction of a very unlikely heroine, a past-her-prime demolitions expert turned garbage collector, to the explosive culmination at the end readers will be hooked.
Candace “Canada” MacHugh lives in Butte, Montana, a place that has some very weird stuff going down. Not only is Canada talking with her dad, who died eleven years ago, but people are burning to ash without warning. Add to the mix one scary non-dying being that is trying to kill her and you have an in-your-face story just made for a rainy day.
There were several things I liked about this book. I wasn’t able to figure out where he was going with the plot. I love stories that are unpredictable. I also enjoy figuring out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy, and there were plenty of questions raised in the story on that front. I also like the concept of the supernatural existing side-by-side with the everyday existence.
However, I missed a crucial turning point in the story as thirty pages were left out during the physical construction of the book. This was a major drawback and I spent several pages trying to catch up. (Anyone buying off the shelf needs to check after page 96.) I know I wasn’t able to make some connections until later on in the story because of this.
I didn’t let this stop me though and still feel I enjoyed the book. It delivered a delightful type of creepy, not a lot of gore or grabbing of the ankles from beneath the bed. However, there were certainly some breathless scenes. (Let’s just say, for arachnophobes like me – oooooo yucky!) If this book hadn’t been missing the pages, I would have given it a 9.0. As it was, I felt like I needed to mark it down. I still liked the book enough that I shall look up T.L. Hines’ previous book Waking Lazarus.
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