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A Stir of Echoes

A Stir of Echoes

List Price: $50.00
Your Price: $40.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A psychic murder mystery with a twist...
Review: If you've seen the movie, forget it. While a good movie, "A Stir of Echoes" by Richard Matheson resembles it only tangentally. Character names are the same, but that's about it. In the book, the protagonist Tom is a white collar businessman, and the story itself unfolds completely differently: who is murdered, why, and by whom is different from the movie version of this book.

I had read the book first, and let me tell you, it's a remarkable read. The psychic abilities of the protagonist are written in a new and fresh perspective. As Tom navigates the mystery of the ghostly figure that is appearing and, apparently, begging him to solve her murder, the story that unfolds is challenging, thrilling, and certainly a fresh take on psychic mysteries.

If you liked "The Dead Zone," by Stephen King, or you've read Beth Amos' "Second Sight," you're in for a great ride with this book. Snap it up, and prepare stay awake at night...

'Nathan

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The dead tell tales...
Review: Imagine being hypnotized and then opening up to a world beyond what you thought existed. That's exactly what happens to Tom when he is hypnotized by his brother in law. He and his wife just moved into their house with their young son, and it is a normal, decent neighborhood...or so they thought.

Then Tom starts seeing an appartion of a young woman. Who is she? And what does she want?

This is the author that inspired Stephen King. The suspense, plus the blend of paranormal is enough to interest any reader. Though this book was written over forty years ago, it is still modern so that people will enjoy it. Classics are good, after all. So pick this book up. You won't regret it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pure Matheson
Review: It's no small wonder that Stephen King heaps praise upon Matheson and gives Matheson credit for influencing his works. Matheson, without a doubt, is one of our all-time greats, and I have yet to read a bad book or short story by him.

Surprisingly, I read this novel only after seeing the movie starring Kevin Bacon. Let me say what has pretty much become my life's motto: The book is much better than the film. Tom Wallace is your everyday good joe; he works hard, he supports his family, and he is quite happy to live out his life without much excitement. Thanks to some interesting parlor tricks at a party with some close friends, Wallace finds that he can hear people's most private thoughts, and this often thrusts him into some uncomfortable and dangerous situations. Matheson also lets us in on the conflicts arising with Wallace's family and within himself as he struggles to deal with his blessing/curse.

Don't pick this up expecting gruesome, chill-you-to-the-bone horror. This is much more subtle and focuses on the increasing isolation of a man who wants nothing more than to get back his old life. Although the movie twisted this into a thriller, Matheson actually wrote it (at least in my opinion) to be a touching, chilling, and psychological story. This one is a quick read at just over 200 pages, but it packs a punch. If you are new to Matheson, this is a good place to start; then grab HELL HOUSE for something a bit more twisted, bizarre, and creepy!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Book betrayed by movie
Review: Let me make one thing clear right now...I'm not rating this book in relation to the movie. I think this is a two star book on its own demerits. The book felt very long as I was reading it. Most of the characters are just "there." Sure, things go on with them, but if any one subplot was missing, it would not affect the outcome of the book at all. Also, the end of the book let me down very much. It felt like he reached his limit of pages and just drew it to a close as quickly as he could. The rest of the story was so drawn out and protracted, then in the span of a few pages it's resolved. It's hardly proper payoff for reading through the preceeding 200 pages. This is one of few instances where a movie was better than a book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Matheson Classic
Review: Readers of "A Stir of Echoes" who have seen the movie of the same name will find that as similar as the book is to the movie, it is just as vastly different. The story centers around Tom Wallace who lives in sunny California with his wife and son. At a neighborhood party, he is reluctantly hypnotized by his brother-in-law at which point the story truly begins.

After the hypnosis, a latent psychic power is awoken in Tom that allows him to begin to read the thoughts and feelings of others. While Tom does have an encounter with a strange ghostly woman, the book relies heavily on his coping with his new found psychic abilities as they pertain to his "connections" with other living people. Thoughout the book, Tom must come to terms with his new found "gift" as well as solve the mystery of the who the ghostly woman is and what it is that she wants from him.

Matheson does an excellent job in the creation of his characters. The frustration of Tom in dealing with his "gift" and the desperation felt by his wife are brought to the forefront of the novel and make the reader empathize with them. The supporting cast is fun in that some of their thoughts and feelings cause one to pause and even provide some comic relief.

Finally, the end is twist that one could not see coming a mile away. Just when you think that it is all figured out, Matheson pulls an ending out of his bag of tricks that will leave you satisfied.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: combines an amateur sleuth with a fine paranormal story
Review: Returning to his home in Hawthorne from working at the North American Aircraft plant in Inglewood, Tom Wallace sees the car of Philip, his brother-in-law a psych major at Berkley. That night Tom, his pregnant wife Anne and Phil go next door to attend a party. Phil offers to hypnotize any volunteers, but no one steps forward so he informs "brother man" that he is the chosen victim. Phil successfully hypnotizes Tom.

That night while unable to sleep, Tom begins hearing voices of people he knows and impressions in his dead culminated with a ghost in his living room. Suddenly, Tom's middle class American dream lifestyle seems meaningless as the hypnosis has aroused psychic abilities that he never knew he had. He hears the intimate most confidential thoughts of those around him and learns secrets that shake his existence, but worse is the visits from the murder victim demanding he help her find her killer.

This is a reprint of a 1950s thriller (and a one degree Bacon movie) that combines an amateur sleuth subplot within a fast-paced paranormal story line containing a ghostly element and psychic abilities. Tom is a terrific protagonist as readers observe the contrast between his lifestyle and his new ESP abilities. The support cast adds depth to Tom's travails as he tries to solve a homicide and regain his former existence without "hearing" the thoughts of others. Richard Matheson shows why he is one of the masters of the thriller genre as this "historical" piece ages nicely.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: combines an amateur sleuth with a fine paranormal story
Review: Returning to his home in Hawthorne from working at the North American Aircraft plant in Inglewood, Tom Wallace sees the car of Philip, his brother-in-law a psych major at Berkley. That night Tom, his pregnant wife Anne and Phil go next door to attend a party. Phil offers to hypnotize any volunteers, but no one steps forward so he informs "brother man" that he is the chosen victim. Phil successfully hypnotizes Tom.

That night while unable to sleep, Tom begins hearing voices of people he knows and impressions in his dead culminated with a ghost in his living room. Suddenly, Tom's middle class American dream lifestyle seems meaningless as the hypnosis has aroused psychic abilities that he never knew he had. He hears the intimate most confidential thoughts of those around him and learns secrets that shake his existence, but worse is the visits from the murder victim demanding he help her find her killer.

This is a reprint of a 1950s thriller (and a one degree Bacon movie) that combines an amateur sleuth subplot within a fast-paced paranormal story line containing a ghostly element and psychic abilities. Tom is a terrific protagonist as readers observe the contrast between his lifestyle and his new ESP abilities. The support cast adds depth to Tom's travails as he tries to solve a homicide and regain his former existence without "hearing" the thoughts of others. Richard Matheson shows why he is one of the masters of the thriller genre as this "historical" piece ages nicely.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Matheson Makes Good
Review: Stir of Echoes focuses around "everyman" Tom Wallace. He's a normal guy with a normal job, a young child, and another kid on the way. He lives in a fairly regular town, with what seem to be fairly regular neighbors. One night, his brother-in-law hypnotizes him. As a weird side-effect Tom develops psychic powers which enable him to see the future, read minds, and see something like ghosts. What he can't do is control his power, which becomes more of a bane than a gift. This book is not really spooky or scary, whether because it was written in the '50s and lacks the impact fifty years later or just because it isn't. What it does do quite well is create people and situations. Matheson convincingly shows two sides of people, their public faces and their private ones. He comprehensively shows realistic responses to this extraordinary event. At times a human drama and times a murder mystery, this book is quite good. The age shows only in the dialogue and even then, it is not so crippling that a reader today could not thoroughly enjoy the book.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Stir of Nothing
Review: This book has accomplished something that few 200 some odd page do - make it feel like a 500 page book. The main problem I have is that for most of the book is that hardly anything happens. This book neither captivates you with a plot, develops any characters, or immerses you in a setting.

Basically, a man gets hypnotized and starts reading peoples minds and predicting the future. He sees a ghost, reads a neighbor's mind, has an encounter with a baby sitter, and fights with his wife. That's the first ninety percent of the book. Matheson probably realized that nothing happened, so he threw in some hackneyed plot twist to add some excitement. Needless to say, it doesn't work.

Another problem I had with this book is the flow and language structure. He likes throwing brief tidbits of conversation, which annoyed me to death. Many times I had to re-read paragraphs due to the fact that he omitted context and who said it.

Ignore all those people who say that this delves into great psychological terror. Nope, it deals with a boring man with a boring gift living a boring place. Silence of the Lambs this ain't. What makes a good book? Not being able to put it down. What makes a bad book? Not being able to pick it up. This book is boring and tedious - the only reason why I finished it is because I actually spent my hard earned money on it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Precursor to Stephen King
Review: This is a really well-written, extremely gripping little horror novel. If you've never read Richard Matheson before, get this book--you'll be glad you did. Stephen King has often cited Matheson as one of his main influences, and this book clearly shows why.

Matheson tells the story of Tom Wallace, a decent everyday blue collar guy (not unlike Richard Dreyfus's character in "Close Encounters") who, after being hypnotized, is able to read the darker thoughts lying under his neighbors' smiling exteriors. This is a horror novel that truly works because it deals with very human horrors-the darkness hides inside us all. It is also a very entertaining novel. The characters and dialogue feel right.

You can see echoes of this novel in many of much of King's writing, particularly The Shining, and later books such as Needful Things and The Green Mile. If you like Stephen King, you should definitely give Matheson a try.


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