The Ferryman

Janine Hartschorn left David Bairstow for a man who abandoned her once he discovered she was pregnant with his child. A miscarriage almost ended her life. Now she and David are reaching for a second chance. But something is determined to keep them apart. Something with the power to conjure up ghosts from David?s past and make them real. Something Janine knows from her near-death experience. Praise for THE FERRYMAN “With his customary style and economy, Christopher Golden has penned a powerful and haunting tale.” —Clive Barker “Golden delivers...good, old-fashioned storytelling with a contemporary sensibility. There’s no lack of tension, and he doesn’t back away from the consequences of the darkness he has set upon his characters.” —Charles de Lint “A compulsive read, one I finished in a single sleep-deprived night. The characters are easy to care about, the story unpredictable and involving.” —Poppy Z. Brite "An intelligent, compelling ghost story in the classic horror tradition . . . Harrowing . . . Superior characterization, an exquisitely detailed setting and superbly orchestrated suspense." —Publishers Weekly “A gripping tale from a genre master.” —Kristine Huntley, Booklist Shot through with a sadness that sometimes gently aches and other times deeply wounds. Golden's subtle and clever way with a plot really shines. Spencer makes a stellar second-tier bad guy, the kind of jerk you don't just love to hate; you want to beat him to death with a coal shovel. —Brian Hodge, Hellnotes “Low key but quite effective horror.” —Don D’Ammassa “A horrifying, disturbing assault . . . Tight, focused and almost claustrophobically intimate, it’s a must read for those yearning for a really terrifying experience.” —Fangoria “Golden has a talent for (creating) the most realistic characters you’re likely to find outside of a Stephen King novel. You care for these people and their well-being as much as you would for people you know. Golden has proven to be one of the great horror authors of our time. (His) works have impressed me in ways most horror novels can’t even approach. (The Ferryman) is horror in its purest form." —Creature Corner

From Publishers Weekly

Stoker Award-winner Golden (Straight on 'Til Morning; countless Buffy the Vampire Slayer titles) offers an intelligent, compelling ghost story in the classic horror tradition. When Boston teacher Janine Hartschorn loses her baby at birth, she has what seems to be a near-death experience Charon the Ferryman of Greek myth comes for her, but she throws away the silver coins he demands. After her recovery, however, Janine realizes that something real is after her and also after her best friend, lesbian Annette Muscari; her old lover, David Bairstrow(whom she left to take up with her old flame Spencer Hahn, the stillborn baby's father, who in turn deserts her); her mother and so on. Fortunately, Janine and her brainy friends know how to survive, and with the help of a wise priest, Father Hugh Charles, they get almost literally to the bottom of the mystery (the final, harrowing confrontation is on the Charles River). First, though, our heroes must suffer further losses and some awful assaults on their sanity, as when Annette finds the apparently perfect lover in a simulacrum of an old girlfriend of David's, whom he killed in a drunk-driving accident as a teenager. Superior characterization, an exquisitely detailed setting and superbly orchestrated suspense set this above the usual run of horror novels. Only Janine's inexplicable attraction to the feckless Spencer rings a false note.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Janine Hartschorn nearly dies giving birth to her stillborn son, and while hovering between life and death, she encounters Charon, the Greek mythological ferryman of the dead. Instead of going with him peacefully, she throws the coins for her passage to the next world at him, and that defiant act sets off the ferryman's obsession with her. Recovering, she tries to move on, putting Spencer, the cruel father of her baby, in the past, and rekindling a romance with David, whom she left for Spencer. But supernatural occurrences threaten the couple. David glimpses people from his past who are long dead, and Charon stalks Janine. Meanwhile, their friend Annette seems to have met the woman of her dreams, Jill, but Jill bears an uncanny resemblance to a young woman for whose accidental death David is responsible. As the supernatural beings become more menacing, David and Janine are forced to fight for their lives and the lives of all those they love. A gripping tale from a genre master. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Christopher Golden is the bestselling author of numerous works of dark fantasy, including The Shadow Saga and his collaboration with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire.

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