THE SHIMMER
By David Morrell
When a high-speed chase goes terribly wrong, Santa Fe police officer Dan Page watches in horror as a car and gas tanker explode into flames. Torn with guilt that he may be responsible, Page returns home to discover that his wife, Tori, has disappeared.
Frantic, Page follows her trail to Rostov, a remote town in Texas famous for a massive astronomical observatory, a long-abandoned military base, and unexplained nighttime phenomena that draw onlookers from every corner of the globe. Many of these gawkers—Tori among them—are compelled to visit this tiny community to witness the mysterious Rostov Lights.
Without warning, a gunman begins firing on the lights, screaming “Go back to hell where you came from,” then turns his rifle on the bystanders. A bloodbath ensues, and events quickly spiral out of control, setting the stage for even greater violence and death.
Page must solve the mystery of the Rostov Lights to save his wife. In the process, he learns that the decaying military base may not be abandoned at all, and that the government may have known about the lights for decades. Could these phenomena be more dangerous than anyone could have possibly imagined?
Read the Horror World Review
Read an excerpt
Visit the official site
* * * * * * * * *
First published May 15, 2009 (Booklist).
Readers often forget that the creator of Rambo writes more than thrillers. He has also dabbled in the horror and science-fiction genres, and here he combines his interests in a cross-genre tale. Police officer Dan Page’s wife goes away without telling him and turns up in the small town of Rostov, Texas, where the so-called Rostov Lights—strange and perhaps otherworldly gleams in the sky—have been drawing people for many years. Page joins her there, trying to understand why she went off without a word. Even after a seemingly deranged man fires a gun into the crowd gathered to witness the Rostov Lights, and Page’s wife kills the gunman, she still refuses to leave Rostov. Soon it becomes clear that the madman’s rampage was merely a preface to horrors that are to follow. Page realizes that if he is to save his wife, he must find out the truth about the mysterious lights but to do so will require solving a mystery dating back nearly a century. The notion of people being inexplicably drawn to a place is not new—Spielberg used it in Close Encounters of the Third Kind—but Morrell works his own variations on the theme, adding in a very interesting World War I–era mystery to keep us (and Page) on our toes. The book’s fantasy elements might put off some of Morrell’s hard-core thriller fans, but if they don’t read the book, it’s their loss. This is a fine example of how to mix genres effectively.
