August 26, 2011

The Uncanny by Andrew Klavan

Title:  The Uncanny
Author:  Andrew Klavan
Format:  PB
Pages:  401
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Island, 1998
ISBN-13:  978-0440225775
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  "I am the Everlasting Thing," he said.  "I feed on the marrow of time.  I was here before the oceans turned black with life, and when the deserts are white with death I will remain."

Synopsis (Amazon):  Richard Storm is passionate, hot-blooded, and running out of time.  Sophia Endering is cool, beautiful, and haunted by a centuries-old mystery.  Now the Hollywood filmmaker and the troubled young woman have come together in a race against the unbelievable, the unthinkable, and. . . The Uncanny.

Richard Storm reached the top of his profession producing horror films based on classic English ghost stories.  Now, with his life beginning to unravel, Richard is searching for something to believe in.  Fleeing Hollywood for London, he embarks on a desperate quest: to find evidence that the great old stories bear some truth, that the human spirit lives on after death.

What he finds is Sophia, a woman caught in a nightmare more chilling than any of his film horrors.  Propelled by a furious love, haunted by a terror he can barely confess to himself, Storm pursues Sophia through the labyrinth of her family's madness and their involvement in Nazi art thefts, down a trail formed by the classic ghost stories themselves--into the very heart of the uncanny.  .  .  .

Review:  This book is quite different than I expected.  It's not as scary as I thought it would be, but it was still quite good.  I loved the character Harper the best.  She was smart and witty.  I am still not really sure what The Uncanny is, but it didn't matter.

Much of this novel revolves around a strange take on The Holy Grail and the fact that it can give immortality.  I've certainly never read a more imaginative or original story on this subject.  It also touched on paganism, Satanism, human sacrifice, and ghosts.  This wasn't one of my favorite books, but it was well worth the read.

Rating:  6 / 10

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