Hitchers
Book - 2012 Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / McIntosh, Will 1 On Shelf No requests on this item
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Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / McIntosh, Will
On Shelf At: Westgate Branch
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Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / McIntosh, Will | 4-week checkout | On Shelf |
After a terrorist attack in Atlanta kills 500,000 people and causes the dead to half-possess many of the survivors, Finn Darby must surmount his own ghostly "Hitcher"--his abusive, deceased grandfather--if he is going to find a way to send the dead back to where they came from.
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Fun and fluffy. Somehow not as dark as it should be.
submitted by eknapp on October 8, 2014, 9:10am
An anthrax attack in Atlanta kills 600,000 people. For murky reasons this enables thousands of dead souls to possess the survivors. The protagonist is a cartoonist whose colossal prick of a dead grandfather begins taking over his body. He and two friends who also have hitchers work together to understand what's happening before they all disappear forever.
Wow, is McIntosh ever hard on his hero. His grandfather dies of age, his wife is killed by lightning right in front of him, his twin sister drowns (and it's partially his fault), his hometown loses 600,000 people--including his two best friends--to a terrorist attack, he dies for 10 minutes in a car accident, and then he comes down with a bad case of possession. I think that was all before page 40. Positively Jobian.
The good stuff was pretty good. McIntosh does a nice job plotting a series of disasters, government responses, social reaction and evolution. A shoe-oriented spontaneous memorial felt right, as did a self-deputized army of God who went around murdering afflicted innocents in order to "exorcise demons." They subscribe to a kill-em-all-and-let-God-sort-em-out philosophy, which I've no doubt is exactly what would happen. The afterlifey stuff is sufficiently bizarre and creepy, dipping lightly into the Eastern mysticism bunk that most of us roll our eyes at. Very believable.
The bad stuff...eh. I have no real complaints. It just didn't break any real ground or blow my mind with its perspicacity. Hitchers is simply a good fun read, and somehow light in spite of all the tension and tragedy.
PUBLISHED
San Francisco : Night Shade Books, c2012.
Year Published: 2012
Description: 283 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781597803359
1597803359
SUBJECTS
Spirit possession -- Fiction.
Terrorism -- Fiction.
Hysteria -- Fiction.
Grandfathers -- Fiction.
Mass murder -- Fiction.
Paranormal fiction.
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Fiction.
Atlanta (Ga.) -- Fiction.
Suspense fiction.