It's Review Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Ghostly Summons
Author: John A. Karr
My Rating: 3 stars
Book Blurb:
Lars Kelsen doesn’t believe in
psychic phenomenon. To him, visions of murder victims are a
form of mental illness. Once they begin, options are limited;
he can try to ignore them or deal with them by exposing a
killer. Only the latter provides any semblance of peace.
Temporarily, anyway. Five years into his new life as a
programmer, Kelsen—ex-crime beat reporter with a penance he
can never fully satisfy—sees a victim.
In person. Upright. Staring.
Typical of such past "Visits" as he calls them, he doesn’t welcome this one. The nude form of a beautiful millionairess in his cubicle means murder has come to the vacation haven known as North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It means he’ll have to go places he'd rather avoid. See things he'll wish he hadn’t. Do things that don't come naturally, like in-your-face confrontation and bending the law. Actually, breaking the law ... but with good intent. It also means dealing with one very attractive county coroner, who pushes his buttons in a not entirely unwelcome way.
So begins Kelsen's return to investigative reporting—complete with attempts on his life, fights, deception, and all the technological tricks, such as GPS and computer hacking, at his disposal. And maybe even finding a new love interest.
In person. Upright. Staring.
Typical of such past "Visits" as he calls them, he doesn’t welcome this one. The nude form of a beautiful millionairess in his cubicle means murder has come to the vacation haven known as North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It means he’ll have to go places he'd rather avoid. See things he'll wish he hadn’t. Do things that don't come naturally, like in-your-face confrontation and bending the law. Actually, breaking the law ... but with good intent. It also means dealing with one very attractive county coroner, who pushes his buttons in a not entirely unwelcome way.
So begins Kelsen's return to investigative reporting—complete with attempts on his life, fights, deception, and all the technological tricks, such as GPS and computer hacking, at his disposal. And maybe even finding a new love interest.
My Review:
Such an intriguing story line! The characters were entertaining, especially Lars. I liked getting to know his background in writing, why his visions where occurring and what he planned to do/not do about it. I was looking forward to a paranormal/psychological thriller type of novel, and got a bit of that plus a little bit of romance thrown in (bonus!).
I enjoyed the story overall, but felt like it was a bit forced. There were several parts that were over explained and didn't need to be. The book was over 500 pages, and could easily have been cut down to 300 pages. The chapters were also very very long. If the book sounds good to you, download the first chapter for free first.
About the Author, John A Karr:
John A. Karr believes fiction writing
each day helps keep the demons at bay. Ghostly Summons is hisfirst full-length novel for Dark Continents Publishing. DCP has
also published his Weird West novella, Ujahwek. He is the author
of a handful of other novels: Death Clause, Hippocrates Shattered
(scheduled for reprint by World Castle Publications as Shattered),
Rhone, and Van Gogh, Encore. His short stories have appeared on
webzines Allegory, The Absent Willow Review, and Danse Macabre.
More works are in progress and in the marketing queue.Karr is an ardent believer in the quote by Carl Van Doren (1885-1950), U.S. man of letters: Yes, it's hard to write, but it's harder not to.
2 comments:
Hilary, glad you enjoyed the touch of romance thrown into this paranormal mystery! Thanks for the review :)
Hilary,
Thanks very much for reading and reviewing Ghostly Summons. Glad you found it intriguing!
John
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