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Rating: 
Summary: If Whispers Call
Review: Dark Matter was a campaign setting for the role-playing game called Alternity; they had a fairly trad, space-opera campaign setting you could buy into--or Dark Matter, if you wanted to role-play in an X-Files type of environ, with hints of the paranormal, strange conspiracies, and science meeting the supernatural.I never got to play the game. I only got to peruse the gaming aids as they were cranked out, but the eerie artwork supported a premise that always attracted me. Then Alternity, the game, seemed to die away, and the tie-in novel line died with it. Years later, for inexplicable reasons, I've decided to read one of the Dark Matter books, just to see what was going on. If Whispers Call features a fairly simple ghost story angle, wherein a young couple visit a neglected, never-consecrated cemetery in Midlothian, woody suburb of Chicago, and pay the price. They are plagued from then on, by aural and visual phantasms that send the woman, Laurel, into a coma, and may be turning the fellow, Will, into a man possessed. The question is: what does the mysterious "possessor" want with Will, Laurel, and the couple's unborn child? Enter our series' trio of heroes, agents of the clandestine group known as The Hoffman Institute. They are Ngan, enigmatic and intense team leader; McCain, stubborn and brave investigator of weirdness who grapples with the notion that he's really a clone; and Jeane, former arson investigator and beleaguered middlewoman when it comes to Ngan's and McCain's constant clashes over how to run an investigation and who should be in charge. The friction between the three investigators is well-depicted, and helps drive the novel forward, while adding spice to what is a fairly routine ghost story. Also chipping away at the formulaic trappings of this plot is the nature of the unseen fiend wreaking paranormal havoc; McCain, Jeane, and Ngan have trouble working out the rules regarding their otherworldly enemy or enemies. If the ghost, or whatever, operates out of the cemetery, how is it able to shift its focus to the hospital where pregnant Laurel lies comatose, and also extend its reach to Will, and prey on his mind? In the face of what could be a supremely powerful and mobile spectre that seems to want to hide in a creepy, grasping mist, a new expert is called in late--bigmouth Ned, who gets on a threatened McCain's nerves, and simultaneously seems to attract and repulse Jeane. Ngan remains inscrutable. The secrets behind the ghostly thing attacking Will and Laurel are held until nearly the end of the story, which also helps keep the reader turning pages...only to discover that, again, this is fairly standard stuff once all is said and done. Still, hospitals and cemeteries are naturally creepy places, and the scenes set there get pretty shivery, once that mist starts rolling in, the noises echo, and the blue lights dance around. Thankfully, this novel does stand sturdy all by itself, though it was clearly marketed as part of an ongoing series, with links to the other entries. I am tempted to read another. I forgot about the failed role-playing game that spawned these characters and situations and just enjoyed what is a traditional ghost story, with a few clever wrinkles.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good ghost story
Review: I thought it was a great for the DarkMatter fan, as a game resource, or just by itself as a extreamly good ghost mystery.
Rating:
Summary: The series comes into focus
Review: Very good story, with good character development and a mystery that makes sense and pulls you in. The first one was a bit disappointing, but it is crucial for you to understand this one at all. This story will certainly make you want to read the rest of them. Have fun.
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