Hitchers

Hitchers
Will Mc Intoch
Night Shade Books
San Francisco
January 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59780-335-9
$ 24.99
264 pages

Sometimes life is just not fair. Finn Darby is finally beginning to get his life back on track. As a child, his twin sister drowned. The two were competitive and she chose to swim at night due to a dare from him. His grandparents and mother raised him However, his grandfather always made it clear that he was not the favored twin. Added to that, Finn's wife died two years ago in a freak accident where she was struck with lightning on a river bank.

Finn's grandfather had successfully created a syndicated comic strip, Toy Shop. After years, the popularity of the strip was beginning to fail. With the death of his grandfather, Finn let the comic strip die but after awhile and with his wife's encouragement, revitalized it, adding new characters while reigniting interest with success that the old strip could never had imagined.

When Atlanta, Georgia is struck with a terrorist attack, life changes for Finn. He is beginning to believe that he is possessed by his hateful grandfather. As people die from this anthrax attack, Finn discovers how mad his grandfather is at him for changing the comic strip. Who do you go to for help if you believed you are possessed?

At first, Finn finds medical help but he is not alone. It appears that with half-a-million people dying within such a small area, this created conditions of souls who are not wanting to die. These souls have unfinished business and tend to inhabit the bodies of those who they resented. The term for these souls inside a formerly normal human, is “hitcher..”

Hitchers is an enthralling thriller. This is one of those books that pulls you into it and does not release your mind, (This is similar to possessing.) The characters are well-developed within the logically gripping tale. The story is interwoven with the guilt from his sister's death, his wife's death, and dealing with the difficult and self-centered grandfather. The contrasted feelings of Finn are superbly displayed when his dead wife shares the body of the waitress who she had berated shortly before her death. As Finn develops a strong relationship with Summer, he is also feeling guilty about Lorena, his wife, and his unresolved feelings for her, both in one body.

Will McIntosh has won a Hugo Award and was a finalist for the Nebula Award. This native New Yorker now is a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University.

Hitchers is a gripping tale thoroughly possessing your mind. Read this haunting tale.