Monday, September 25, 2006
Chasing the Dead
by Joe Schreiber
rev. by Lawrence Kapture
Chasing the dead is a thriller by Joe Schreiber. It’s a short, well crafted read, with more than a few hints of Stephen King.
Susan is an ex-ambulance driver who has come into her husband Phillip’s real estate empire after he abandoned her and their infant daughter for Florida. Sue is heading home from work when she gets a phone call from a stranger.
“You have a very lovely little girl, Susan.”
As the conversation continues, Sue finds out that her daughter and nanny have been kidnapped, that the kidnapper has been in her house, and in fact seems to know quite a bit about her life. The unidentified caller tells her that as long as she does everything he asks her tonight, she’ll see her daughter again.
Otherwise, she’ll just see pieces of her daughter again.
So begins the chase: Sue is given a route through seven beat up Massachusetts towns to follow, must dig up a secret that she and Phillip had hidden for 20 years. How does her secret connect her and her daughter’s abductor? And why such a crazy route between towns? And where exactly is Phillip, anyways?
Full of twists and turns, Chasing the Dead will keep you engaged with creepy set scenes and an urgent pace. It’s so twisty that the feeling of the story changes throughout: at first, it seems like a taut psychological thriller. Only gradually does the specter of something darker express itself.
Chasing the dead is an engaging, controlled read by local talent: he graduated from Portage Northern. And as an extra bonus, Mr. Schreiber will be reading and speaking at the library on Saturday, October 14th, from 1 PM to 3 PM.
rev. by Lawrence Kapture
Chasing the dead is a thriller by Joe Schreiber. It’s a short, well crafted read, with more than a few hints of Stephen King.
Susan is an ex-ambulance driver who has come into her husband Phillip’s real estate empire after he abandoned her and their infant daughter for Florida. Sue is heading home from work when she gets a phone call from a stranger.
“You have a very lovely little girl, Susan.”
As the conversation continues, Sue finds out that her daughter and nanny have been kidnapped, that the kidnapper has been in her house, and in fact seems to know quite a bit about her life. The unidentified caller tells her that as long as she does everything he asks her tonight, she’ll see her daughter again.
Otherwise, she’ll just see pieces of her daughter again.
So begins the chase: Sue is given a route through seven beat up Massachusetts towns to follow, must dig up a secret that she and Phillip had hidden for 20 years. How does her secret connect her and her daughter’s abductor? And why such a crazy route between towns? And where exactly is Phillip, anyways?
Full of twists and turns, Chasing the Dead will keep you engaged with creepy set scenes and an urgent pace. It’s so twisty that the feeling of the story changes throughout: at first, it seems like a taut psychological thriller. Only gradually does the specter of something darker express itself.
Chasing the dead is an engaging, controlled read by local talent: he graduated from Portage Northern. And as an extra bonus, Mr. Schreiber will be reading and speaking at the library on Saturday, October 14th, from 1 PM to 3 PM.
