Eternity

Rating:
Summary: a big let down
Review: after reading her first two novels I though this one would be just as good, however, i found myself forcing to finish it and completely dissapointed. I did not feel the sense of terror or suspense that I felt with moofall or haunted. I hope she goes back to her previous format of writing.

Rating:
Summary: One heck of a horror novel!
Review: Considering there was no summary or reviews when I purchased this book, I wasn't really sure if I should buy it or not. The determining factor was how much I had enjoyed her previous novels. Tamara Thorne has definitely put herself to the top of the horror list with this incredible book. Eternity is a picturesque little mountain community nestled in the California mountains. New Agers flock there for Icehouse mountain, the UFO and Bigfoot mecca of California. Eternity is full of strange characters but there is something else there - a serial killer.

This book was one of those I hated to put down yet didn't want to finish. I just kept wishing it would go on and on. Its a rollercoaster ride of a horror novel where nothing is as it seems. Its horror yet a serial killer novel also. Considering I'm fans of both genres, I loved this book. I have to say this is in my top ten favorite books of all time. Just superb!

Rating:
Summary: REALLY Taunting
Review: Eternity was another one of Tamara Thorne's novels that keeps you interested until the end. It is about the town people of Eternity and they have a secret that nobody wants to let out. This secret that they hide is terrifying everyone but nobody will say anything. The ending was a total shock as was with Tamara's other books. It keeps you guessing "who done it" and when was this person going to strike again and How?? There was always another way he killed people and it was messy and gory everytime!

Rating:
Summary: Nifty Story, Slight Problems
Review: Eternity, California is definitely one of those places you would rather visit then live. Its isolation is the first problematic thing about it. High up in the mountains along treacherous roads, Eternity promises complete solitude for those who wish to hide away from the real world. At the same time, the remote location of the town virtually insures that serious dangers will also be kept from prying eyes. When Zach Tully, a Los Angeles police detective, decides to accept a job as sheriff of this inaccessible little niche in the mountains, he learns that isolation is not always the safest escape from the big city. Tully leaves LA after his wife and young son die at the hands of the Backdoor Man, a grotesque serial killer who the cop came within minutes of catching. Now Tully wants some peace and quiet, a place where he can go to do some fishing and where the extent of his policing duties are the occasional writing of a parking ticket or busting up a beer bash.

Imagine Tully's surprise when he discovers that Eternity has a sky-high homicide rate. Moreover, the last two men to hold the position of sheriff died horribly at the hands of a serial killer. To add insult to injury, the new sheriff finds himself at the mercy of the city council, a group of oddball characters with a lot of secrets to hide and short patience for an inquisitive cop. Then there is the assortment of escaped patients from the nearby asylum, strange lights in the mountains, a Stonehenge-like circle that emits weird energies, a local legend that Lemurians are hiding in the mountains, and more than one resident of the town resembles people who disappeared throughout time, like Ambrose Bierce, Amelia Earhart, and Jim Morrison. Rumor has it that the spate of serial killings in the area closely resembles those of the infamous Jack the Ripper. Sheriff Tully has his hands full right from the start, although he does strike up an acquaintance with beautiful Kate McPherson and her young son Josh. Overall, his stay in Eternity promises to be anything but mundane.

While "Eternity" contains elements of a classic suspense tale, there is a significant amount of horror here as well. I quit counting the number of deaths after awhile, as the townspeople literally drop like flies every few pages or so. The murders are gruesome, involving much more than simple shootings or stabbings. The book opens with the unpleasant description of Tully's predecessor moving into the afterlife, setting the tone right from the start that this story is not going to be without its moments of stomach churning scenes.

The characters are well done for books in this genre. Sheriff Tully receives the most attention since he is the main character. The author, Tamara Thorne, takes the reader into Tully's head quite often, especially when describing his dreams about the death of his family at the hands of the Backdoor Man and how he is bound and determined to not let this happen to Kate and Josh in Eternity. Tully is a tortured soul taking his first tentative steps back to normality, and the killings in Eternity stand squarely in his way. Other characters are not as well drawn, but should have been. For example, I would have liked to see more done with Carl Leland, Kate's domineering and manipulative ex-husband. This guy had great potential to cause a heap of trouble for our main characters, but Thorne allows him to barely make a ripple in the larger story.

Books that deal with people isolated from society always suffer several plot problems unless the author adequately explains them away. Thorne fails to do such here. The biggest question that loomed large in my mind as I read the story and saw the death toll mount was: Why has no one brought in authorities from the outside? Here is a serious spate of serial killings, everybody knows they are serial killings, everybody is afraid of becoming a victim of the killer, yet no one calls in the state police or the FBI. The excuse that the town fathers do not want to damage the tourism industry just does not explain away this problem. But once you recognize this plot hole and allow yourself to get past it, the story holds the reader's interest while providing some pretty cool explanations for missing persons, Stonehenge, and unexplained serial killings throughout the last 110 years or so. I thought Thorne really knew her stuff about these incidents and wove them well into the story. There are a few other problems, namely not enough detail about the Lemurians and the Stonehenge circle in the mountains, but the story works well without them.

Tamara Thorne's "Eternity" is an entertaining read. Despite a few unexplained threads, the story really works with its generous helpings of gore and suspense. I always enjoy a good yarn about Jack the Ripper, and this story makes him a major character. I also liked the way Tully discovers the identity of the killer. I would certainly read another Tamara Thorne book based solely on my experience with "Eternity."

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A WEIRD LITTLE TOWN
Review: Eternity, California, is one of the weirdest little towns concocted for a horror novel. I thought "Salem's Lot" was strange; but the weirdos in that one were all vampires. In Tamara Thorne's shamelessly derivative "Eternity," the weirdos are pretty much everybody: the strange mayor who looks like Ambrose Bierce; the two Elvis impersonators; an Amelia Earhart lookalike; weird twins named The Dimples; so on, so forth. And on top of it, there's a serial killer who says he's Jack The Ripper and he offs almost the entire town of Eternity, which has only a population of 500. But what a town! It has several restaurants, an insane asylum, two hospitals, a mall, a couple of nightclubs, and hookers! And if that's not enough, it has a strange Stonehenge like site where if you step into it, you won't age, and in fact, you can even "teleport" yourself from different time zones and places.
Therein lies the problem with this novel. Thorne has taken on so much she has a hard time focusing on any particular nuance of the plot. Suffice to say, a cop named Zach Tulley, whose wife and child were killed by an unknown serial killer, leaves L.A. and accepts the position of sheriff in Eternity. Seems the last couple of sheriffs have met untimely deaths. Also, the tour guide there, Kate McPherson, has fled to Eternity to escape her obnoxious psychologist ex-husband. She also has a son named Josh, thus setting the stage for Zach's falling for a surrogate family. And is the current serial killer also the same one that murdered Zach's family? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where this book goes.
There are some humorous moments, but there so much that's contrived, and illogical. One big fault, I felt, was that if Zach Tully was such an ace cop and supposedly had brilliant powers of deduction, how come it takes him so long to figure out the clues in the murders and the murderer's identity. I pegged the culprit right after he/she was introduced. The reasoning behind the killings is never clearly stated, and the whole "science fiction" aspect of the story is uninvolving.
I did enjoy reading the book, though. It held my interest, although I certainly wouldn't feel bad if I had missed it, either.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A WEIRD LITTLE TOWN
Review: Eternity, California, is one of the weirdest little towns concocted for a horror novel. I thought "Salem's Lot" was strange; but the weirdos in that one were all vampires. In Tamara Thorne's shamelessly derivative "Eternity," the weirdos are pretty much everybody: the strange mayor who looks like Ambrose Bierce; the two Elvis impersonators; an Amelia Earhart lookalike; weird twins named The Dimples; so on, so forth. And on top of it, there's a serial killer who says he's Jack The Ripper and he offs almost the entire town of Eternity, which has only a population of 500. But what a town! It has several restaurants, an insane asylum, two hospitals, a mall, a couple of nightclubs, and hookers! And if that's not enough, it has a strange Stonehenge like site where if you step into it, you won't age, and in fact, you can even "teleport" yourself from different time zones and places.
Therein lies the problem with this novel. Thorne has taken on so much she has a hard time focusing on any particular nuance of the plot. Suffice to say, a cop named Zach Tulley, whose wife and child were killed by an unknown serial killer, leaves L.A. and accepts the position of sheriff in Eternity. Seems the last couple of sheriffs have met untimely deaths. Also, the tour guide there, Kate McPherson, has fled to Eternity to escape her obnoxious psychologist ex-husband. She also has a son named Josh, thus setting the stage for Zach's falling for a surrogate family. And is the current serial killer also the same one that murdered Zach's family? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where this book goes.
There are some humorous moments, but there so much that's contrived, and illogical. One big fault, I felt, was that if Zach Tully was such an ace cop and supposedly had brilliant powers of deduction, how come it takes him so long to figure out the clues in the murders and the murderer's identity. I pegged the culprit right after he/she was introduced. The reasoning behind the killings is never clearly stated, and the whole "science fiction" aspect of the story is uninvolving.
I did enjoy reading the book, though. It held my interest, although I certainly wouldn't feel bad if I had missed it, either.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A WEIRD LITTLE TOWN
Review: Eternity, California, is one of the weirdest little towns concocted for a horror novel. I thought "Salem's Lot" was strange; but the weirdos in that one were all vampires. In Tamara Thorne's shamelessly derivative "Eternity," the weirdos are pretty much everybody: the strange mayor who looks like Ambrose Bierce; the two Elvis impersonators; an Amelia Earhart lookalike; weird twins named The Dimples; so on, so forth. And on top of it, there's a serial killer who says he's Jack The Ripper and he offs almost the entire town of Eternity, which has only a population of 500. But what a town! It has several restaurants, an insane asylum, two hospitals, a mall, a couple of nightclubs, and hookers! And if that's not enough, it has a strange Stonehenge like site where if you step into it, you won't age, and in fact, you can even "teleport" yourself from different time zones and places.
Therein lies the problem with this novel. Thorne has taken on so much she has a hard time focusing on any particular nuance of the plot. Suffice to say, a cop named Zach Tulley, whose wife and child were killed by an unknown serial killer, leaves L.A. and accepts the position of sheriff in Eternity. Seems the last couple of sheriffs have met untimely deaths. Also, the tour guide there, Kate McPherson, has fled to Eternity to escape her obnoxious psychologist ex-husband. She also has a son named Josh, thus setting the stage for Zach's falling for a surrogate family. And is the current serial killer also the same one that murdered Zach's family? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where this book goes.
There are some humorous moments, but there so much that's contrived, and illogical. One big fault, I felt, was that if Zach Tully was such an ace cop and supposedly had brilliant powers of deduction, how come it takes him so long to figure out the clues in the murders and the murderer's identity. I pegged the culprit right after he/she was introduced. The reasoning behind the killings is never clearly stated, and the whole "science fiction" aspect of the story is uninvolving.
I did enjoy reading the book, though. It held my interest, although I certainly wouldn't feel bad if I had missed it, either.

Rating:
Summary: An Eternity of entertaining reading
Review: First off, I thought this book was spectacular. There were some flaws, but that's to be expected, (No one writes a perfect book). I thought it was a healthy and masterful combination of mystery, suspense, horror, and a sprinkling of fantasy.
The book starts out right away grabbing your (or at least my) attention, with the current sheriff of Eternity falling to pieces, literally. The pace after that continues at a pleasurable rate.
My first bone to pick is the number of businessess and stores in Eternity. Granted it is a tourist town, but would they really have a cryogenics lab. Other than that, I felt like the town was very likable and life-like.
Some of my favorite parts were when they discovered why the MO of the killer kept changing. Exquisite. The ending was taut and fast-paced. I almost couldn't finish it, because I was jumping up and down so much, with anticipation.
This book is for anybody who likes mysteries, horror, or even loose science fiction. Also this includes some interesting information on Jack the Ripper.
I loved every minute of this book. It's sure to stay on my bookshelf for a while, and provide an eternity of entertaining reading.
Now, if they'd only make a movie.....

Rating:
Summary: Murder, Murder and Murders Galore
Review: Homicide detective Zack Tully was good at catching serial killers, but not only was he not able to close the case of the "Backdoor Man," the Backdoor Man murdered his wife and son, leaving him beat and broken, so he quits the big city and takes a job as sheriff in small town Eternity, a small mountain town.

However he's not on the job very long before he learns that Eternity has a horribly high homicide rate, plus it seems that town sheriffs seem to get themselves murdered as well. He learns that the murders appear to run in cycles, a lot of killing, then a period of peace. He is determined to catch the killer, who calls himself Jack, but leads and clues are few and far between.

To make matters worse the towns inhabitants are a little around the bend to say the least, the weirdest are the lifers who are afraid that if word of the killings gets out, that it'll kill tourism, but that doesn't stop them from betting on who is going to die next.

This book is a mystery, a horror story and a little unbelievable, but it is very entertaining, never boring and hard to put down, because things in small town Eternity are not what they appear to be.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Rating:
Summary: Wecome to Eternity
Review: I ordered a copy of Tamara Thorne's "Eternity" more or less as an afterthought. Good horror is hard to find and it was time to try someone new. Little did I know that I had just signed up on a crazy roller coaster ride through the mountains of North California chasing the trail of one of the most prolific serial killers of modern times.

Zach Tully has recently been recruited to the post of sheriff in the obscure town of Eternity. He is leaving behind a successful career as a homicide detective and the horrifying images of his wife and child who were slaughtered by the 'Backdoor Man." He arrives hoping to find peace and forgetfulness but finds himself buried neck deep in strangeness.

Eternity has several different flavors of residents. There are ordinary town folk, tourists, refugees from the local mental home, and 'lifers', who seem to have been around forever. In addition, lights and UFO's appear around Icehouse Mountain, the local peak, which also sports a stone circle around which considerable weirdness seems to happen.

Eternity can also boast of the highest murder rate north of San Francisco. If records can be believed, there have been streaks of serial killings for almost 150 years. Tully hardly has time to get out of his car before his is confronted with an almost daily cycle of gruesome killings. He also meets Kate McPherson and her son Josh, who are being menaced by this killer and a possessive ex-husband.

Thus the scene is set for a tale of escalating surprises. Thorne proves that even the oldest serial killer theme can be given interesting twists, including a killer who delights in adding whole levels of meaning to 'not a leg to stand on,' and 'in one ear and out the other.' As an author she has a pleasant readable style, which often reveals a wry sense of humor. Her characters, whether normal, eccentric or horrible are believable and entertaining. I am looking forward to Thorne's other books.