Poltergeist (Greywalker, Book 2) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kat Richardson
Publisher: Roc Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $4.41
You Save: $9.59 (68%)
New (49) Used (38) Collectible (1) from $4.41
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 142431
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 0451461509
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780451461506
ASIN: 0451461509
Publication Date: August 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% GUARANTEED! Fast shipping on more than 1,000,000 Book, Video, Video Game & Music titles all in one location! Discover Your Entertainment at goHastings.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Harper Blaine was your average small-time PI until she died-for two minutes. Now she's a Greywalker-walking the thin line between the living world and the paranormal realm. And she's discovering that her new abilities are landing her all sorts of "strange" cases.
In the days leading up to Halloween, Harper's been hired by a university research group that is attempting to create an artificial poltergeist. The head researcher suspects someone is faking the phenomena, but Harper's investigation reveals something else entirely-they've succeeded.
And when one of the group's members is killed in a brutal and inexplicable fashion, Harper must determine whether the killer is the ghost itself, or someone all too human.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Angieville: POLTERGEIST November 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book actually creeped me out. In a genuinely nervous, peering into dark corners kind of way. I haven't run across a ghost story that did that in quite awhile, and last night after putting The Squirt to bed and curling up in my rocker to read, I found myself glancing repeatedly at my watch, wondering when DH would be home to keep me company. The cover doesn't help. Harper looks much more sinister (almost possessed) than she did on the cover of Greywalker (Greywalker, Book 1). So kudos to Kat Richardson. POLTERGEIST is not only a solid follow-up, but different enough in tone from its predecessor that it held my interest throughout and I felt compelled to keep turning the pages.
This time around Harper is hired by a local psychology professor to investigate the unexpected happenings in an experiment he's running on psychokinesis, involving a group of participants' ability to "create" their own poltergeist. Little does the skeptical Professor Gantner know how qualified this particular PI is for the job. The further she investigates, however, the more convinced Harper is that the group of misfits has, in fact, created a real ghost. And, when Dr. Gantner's assistant Mark is suddenly murdered in a decidedly unusual fashion, Harper immediately sets out on the trail of the ghost and the individual controlling it.
The bulk of this second Greywalker novel is taken up with Harper's day-to-day investigations as she gets to know the various participants in the poltergeist experiment and works alongside Detective Solis who's in charge of the murder case. Her friend, the quirky Quinton, enters the mix as well, helping Harper with the technological aspects of the case and providing an unflappable sounding board when she's at a loss as to how to proceed. Add in a couple of harrowing visits to the necromantic vampire Carlos, and I had to shake the apprehension off my shoulders more than once. I continue to like Harper for her ever matter-of-fact approach to the darker aspects of the job and for the way she looks out for the few friends she has, almost in spite of her natural reserve and strong inclination toward isolation. I'm hoping the third Greywalker novel, Underground (Greywalker, Book 3), will include more interaction between Harper and her friends and perhaps some additional information on her past. I just know there's stuff she's not telling us...
 A solid supernatural mystery October 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm rather surprised at the wildly divergent reviews here. I'm enjoying Richardson's books because, as much as I love the LKH (Anita Blake) genre, it's nice to read a straight supernatural mystery with no erotic scenes and minimal sarcastic banter. Someone looking for a wild ride of a story might be a bit disappointed, I guess.
I actually found the plot of "Poltergeist" to be somewhat richer than that of the original "Greywalker," weaving together paranormal and mundane villains and problems. While some aspects of the mystery were predictable, others kept me guessing, and I enjoyed the tangled relationships between the characters. I particularly enjoyed the interludes with supporting characters (Mara and family in particular) as well as Harper Blaine's own growing confidence in her abilities.
I also loved the description of the clientele in a certain Borders bookstore-- I work at one, too, and she described it perfectly!
 Safe, sterile and bland. September 30, 2008
PI Harper Blaine, with her unique perspective and ability to slip inbetween the grey and the real, is hunting down a ghost. But it's not the stereotypical spook trying to cross over. Oh no, this is a made-up ghost, a ghost created by the collective minds of a small group under the auspices of Dr. Gartner Tuckman, a psych professor at PNU in Seattle. The goal? To disprove the existence of paranormal entities through scientific means, using the actual scientific parameters of an experiment conducted by the Owens group, dubbed, The Phillip Project, in which 'real' paranormal activity was documented, and allegedly by the group itself. In truth, it is a mind-game test to see how a collective group of people can create their 'ghost' through tension and behavioral manipulation by the investigator, in order to show the workings of the unconscious mind and its seemingly 'ghostly' manifestations. In effect, there is no ghost, only the belief of one and how the human mind, within in a group and carefully control, can use it, and against each other.
However, with Harper's case, even under the strictness of protocols, she realizes that while Tuckman assumes a saboteur is skewing the experiment, Harper knows that a real ghost, a poltergeist, has been created by the group, and one with intent and real enough to even kill. With this investigation, she (very very painfully) slowly learning more about the Grey.
Okay, so the idea is clever and definitely way too overthought, but the effort is impressive. Poltergeist is formulaic and follows the same exact path that Greywalker did, with even less enthusiasm, imagination or still woefully lacking that basic but essential human element. There is no heart, however earnest, nor a trace of passion (in any form), or even excitement. Some action that reads like a script, no growth of the character at all, a little bit more info about Harper, and her lackluster and boring relationship with Will that's going no where and a moot point in this story. It's like reading a textbook in which Harper follows a series of actions and thought processes that is both predictable and tedious to get through. The character herself lacks any defining traits that make you relate or even like her; she perceives, ponders too seriously, then goes about her business in a clinical, sterile perspective. It's like reading the diary of a robot trying to act human and failing miserably. Harper doesn't react and still really doesn't address being changed so drastically and dramatically. Even the Danzigers are numb and dull, though they were more or less aspects of the personae of Harper, just explainers.
The cast of characters in the ghost group are devoid of personality, easily forgettable and even annoying, they're pretty stereotypical stock characters. Completely new characters are also introduced, and brought in as familiar and close people to Harper, and not at all in the first one. They almost give the book the kind of warmth I wished was there, since the writing is, as always, great. You can tell Kat R. was a former editor, she knows her vocabulary and knows how to write, and while she weave a good yarn, there's no real presence.
My biggest issue is the fact that the actual 'Grey' world is still loosely defined and the participants involved in that world are kept at a very back distance. Even in the first one, with the vampires and other ghosts, Harper never really involves herself that much unless she has too, and when she does engage in it, she just describes in a clinical and a-b-c explanations about the minor workings of the grey, the grid-like ley lines...for something different, a few strange things like the claw-monster or a ghost popping up and talking to her, then a disjointed jaunt through it that Kat R fails to convey clearly or even well, and it's never enough. This Grey world sounds so interesting, and I'm left wondering, considering the Grey is the other big character, why it gets no play at all. I want to see and learn more about this Grey reality, but Kat R isn't giving it. Yet? Who knows.
Ultimately, this second book barely pulls you along enough to want to read the third one...but it does. Kind of, though I cringe at the idea of picking up Underground. I'm praying and hoping this author gives more, and less wooden and stiff prose. Even though her writing is terrific, which is her only saving grace.
 Really good second installment September 3, 2008
This was a good second installment. I wish the main Charactor was a little more confidant, but I love the Vamps in the story.
I think as this author becomes more confidant in her writing the story line with flesh out too.
I would recommend the third in the installment
It was just okay. August 8, 2008
I loved Greywalker, and I finished Poltergeist in one sitting, but I just had such a hard time getting into it. I think it was good, but I was expecting another Greywalker. However, don't get me wrong it was okay. I just got Kat Richardson's new book Underground in the mail, and I am looking forward to reading it.
|
|
|
