I really struggled through the first half, but was eventually rewarded with a fairly gripping story of two young men with supernatural talents. One was given the knowledge and guidance he needed to understand it. The other was exploited and left so ignorant that he was vulnerable to human and inhuman evil influence.

The characters are satisfyingly complex, and some (but not all!) even get a redemption arc. The mysteries are never fully explained, which is right and proper in this horror lover's opinion. I like it when the author leaves things ambiguous enough to give my imagination free reign.

Audiobook, via Audible. Nick Sullivan's performance was okay, but a little uneven. At times he sounded almost robotic, and it was enough to sometimes take me out of the story. ( )

A re-read after many years and not as good as I remember it although a workmanlike story. Billy is a part Native American boy who has inherited his gift of communicating with the trapped dead - those who have died violently and are unable to come to terms with their fear and pain to go onto the next part of their spiritual journey - and of taking on their suffering in order to release them. Because of this, he and his mother are pariahs in their community and face intolerance and occasional abuse at home. Meanwhile, another boy, Wayne, is the son of a TV evangelist and discovers he has a power of sorts to heal but only in a distorted manner and at great cost to himself, which leads him to fake it as the religious crusade burgeons and becomes more profitable and his role in it becomes more essential than his father's. Wayne develops an irrational fear of Billy and his mother who turn up at a meeting. Eventually the link between the two boys is revealed. I'm afraid I didn't find it particularly convincing.

The best part of the book is probably the section set in a carnival where Billy briefly finds employment in the fake 'contact the dead' sideshow that a man runs who has tracked Billy down hoping he can tell him whether his son's ghost really haunts his house as his (now committed to an asylum) wife believes. Though it ends inconclusively - it seems at first that the man who dramatically ends Billy's employment there must be important in the rest of the story, but that part of the plot is then dropped. Similarly, the shapechanging creature which causes Billy and his mother problems, and eventually targets Wayne, is apparently a legendary thing which feeds off the negative emotions of the trapped dead and resents their being freed, yet its existence is never adequately accounted for and this becomes a real problem in the final section where it takes on a more and more physical existence.

Meanwhile the story itself derails when a crime boss who has a terrible fear of germs starts to take over Wayne's organisation. I'm afraid the denoument in the desert tipped over into grand guignol when subtlety would have been far more effective. So only a 3 star read for me. ( )

This book was completely different than I expected it to be. A compelling story about a boy destined to help guide earth bound spirits on their final journey. But, more than that, its about finding the strength to endure the stigma associated with being different and having abilities others don't understand.

Well written and unique...I continue to be amazed by McCammons earlier work. ( )

It's been a long time since I read a Robert McCammon book. As i got further into the story, I remembered that he certainly has a talent for books that are compelling and are designed to keep the reader turning the pages to find out what will happen next. I couldn't wait to see which boy would be the one to defeat the evil forces aligned against them both. The two boys, Billy Creekmore and Wayne Falconer are different as night and day in many ways but as alike as Siamese twins in others. Billy lives in a small rural Southern Alabama town with his parents. The other children will have nothing to do with him and no one in the town will acknowledge his family since his mother is called a witch because she has the ability to help the dead cross over. They will call on her when she is reluctantly needed for her "talent"... but avoided otherwise. When the family of Billy's best friend is murdered, he feels a strange "calling" to go into their house. Their spirits are stuck and can't cross over. There Billy discovers his life calling. He also has the same ability as his mother. Then we have Wayne...110% different than Billy. Wayne's family has more money than they know what to do with. Billy's family doesn't have two nickels to rub together. Wayne is the son of a famous evangelist and spends his summers traveling with his father's crusade. When his father discovers Wayne's talent for healing the sick...or at least that's what they think it is...Wayne becomes famous. The sick and dying of his father's flock come to him to be healed. Everyone believes in him, except for Ramona Creedmore and her son. When they come to the crusade, they see through Wayne and see that he can heal no one...although it appears he can. The rivalry begins between the two boys that continues as they grow up. Each has a talent. Each is learning how to use and shape it and wondering how their lives should revolve around it. Each fears the other and something they both call "Shape Changer", a beast that comes to them in dreams and tells them how it will kill them and eat their souls if they don't do as it tells them to. As grown men they meet again and must discover family secrets and learn the truth about their powers. They know that they must unite to fight the "Shape Changer" if they have any hope of survival. I liked the mystique that surrounded the characters and the evil and mystery that was woven in and out of the plot. Horror story fans will like it.

One of McCammon's weaker efforts IMHO. The characters are too black and white and two-dimensional and don't live for me. I didn't care enough about any of them. This is usually McCammon's strength. The plot is not as rich as McCammon usually makes it either. He usually has multiple threads with twists and turns that finally resolve.

I wanted to see how it all ended but that was it. ( )