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Follower
A story of modern terror and suspense set against an authentic and spectacular background.
The Follower remains one of Scandinavia's strangest and most intriguing myths. But for two people it will be so much more than an ancient legend. It brings together John Visco, desperately chasing a geological survey job that may not even exist, and Sara Hansun, a Norwegian girl who is sticking to her side of a lovers' agreement even though her affair is now over. Their shared destination: the Arctic fishing village of Tromstad.
But the roads are closed. And the snow is falling. And out in the darkness, the Follower waits...
Half-human, half-beast, it is a demon spirit rejected by its maker to live independently and in misery. More than anything, it needs a new host; and a dispirited John Visco will make an ideal victim.
"If thriller reading were a sin, Stephen Gallagher would be responsible for my ultimate damnation. His work is fast-paced, well-written, infused with a sense of dark wonder, and altogether fresh." (Dean R Koontz)
Gallagher knows the secret of good supernatural horror. He keeps the gunk and gore to a bare minimum, and screws the emotional tension up tight from the first. (Colin Greenland, Imagine)
Stephen Gallagher is a novelist and screenwriter, and creator of TV's Eleventh Hour. Television adaptations of his novels Chimera and Oktober starred John Lynch and Stephen Tompkinson. His most recent novel is The Kingdom of Bones.
"The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since le Carre." (The Independent)
The Follower remains one of Scandinavia's strangest and most intriguing myths. But for two people it will be so much more than an ancient legend. It brings together John Visco, desperately chasing a geological survey job that may not even exist, and Sara Hansun, a Norwegian girl who is sticking to her side of a lovers' agreement even though her affair is now over. Their shared destination: the Arctic fishing village of Tromstad.
But the roads are closed. And the snow is falling. And out in the darkness, the Follower waits...
Half-human, half-beast, it is a demon spirit rejected by its maker to live independently and in misery. More than anything, it needs a new host; and a dispirited John Visco will make an ideal victim.
"If thriller reading were a sin, Stephen Gallagher would be responsible for my ultimate damnation. His work is fast-paced, well-written, infused with a sense of dark wonder, and altogether fresh." (Dean R Koontz)
Gallagher knows the secret of good supernatural horror. He keeps the gunk and gore to a bare minimum, and screws the emotional tension up tight from the first. (Colin Greenland, Imagine)
Stephen Gallagher is a novelist and screenwriter, and creator of TV's Eleventh Hour. Television adaptations of his novels Chimera and Oktober starred John Lynch and Stephen Tompkinson. His most recent novel is The Kingdom of Bones.
"The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since le Carre." (The Independent)
- GenresHorror
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1984
About the author
Stephen Gallagher
154 books135 followersStoker and World Fantasy Award nominee, winner of British Fantasy and International Horror Guild Awards for his short fiction, Stephen Gallagher has a career both as a novelist and as a creator of primetime miniseries and episodic television. His fifteen novels include Chimera, Oktober, Valley of Lights and Nightmare, with Angel. He's the creator of Sebastian Becker, Special Investigator to the Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy, in a series of novels that includes The Kingdom of Bones, The Bedlam Detective, and The Authentic William James. In his native England he's adapted and created hour-long and feature-length thrillers and crime dramas. In the US he was lead writer on NBC's Crusoe, creator of CBS Television's Eleventh Hour, and Co-Executive Producer on ABC's The Forgotten. Recent screen credits include an award-winning Silent Witness and Stan Lee's Lucky Man.
He began his TV career as a writer on two seasons of Doctor Who, and wrote two novelizations of his stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker.
** Photo by Lisa Bowerman **
He began his TV career as a writer on two seasons of Doctor Who, and wrote two novelizations of his stories under the pseudonym John Lydecker.
** Photo by Lisa Bowerman **
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Did Not Finish
July 29, 2021I can't do it.
Less than 60 pages in and I've been trying to read it for almost a month.
It's so mind numbingly boring and already found two instances of racism for the point of racism it feels like (and yes, I know this was written in the 80's but I'm not letting it off) and all that's happened so far is a lot of geology talk which is making me want to go to sleep.
Life it too short to waste on bad books. No regrets!
Less than 60 pages in and I've been trying to read it for almost a month.
It's so mind numbingly boring and already found two instances of racism for the point of racism it feels like (and yes, I know this was written in the 80's but I'm not letting it off) and all that's happened so far is a lot of geology talk which is making me want to go to sleep.
Life it too short to waste on bad books. No regrets!
October 20, 2017
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I've heard good things about some of the author's other work but only had this book because it was one of about 500 I inherited. The plot intrigued me, and having visited some of the areas where the story is set, I found the book of special interest. I want to rate it a little higher than I have, somewhere between okay and liked rather than just okay as I do like the ideas that went into the plot. Everything about the story felt choppy and where it grew suspenseful, the tension never lasted long enough. The disparate story lines never quite gelled enough for me and so felt a little contrived. In a way, the book felt unfinished overall, but I did like the concept. It wouldn't put me off reading something else by this author.
October 22, 2015
Suffers from very slow pacing, e.g. the (anti) hero does not reach the town where the follower is lurking until page 157, halfway through.
There is also a split between the hero and another male character who forms a love triangle with the heroine. It is not clear for some time who is meant to be the hero because of . Both are basically losers and the only positive characters are the heroine and a young man who helps them despite the hostility of his community. There isn't much of a plot and rather a lot of uninteresting stuff about geological surveys and mines which don't actually add anything to the story. The situation that leads to John's mammoth journey to Trondheim is quite contrived, just to get him to the final section.
There is also a split between the hero and another male character who forms a love triangle with the heroine. It is not clear for some time who is meant to be the hero because of . Both are basically losers and the only positive characters are the heroine and a young man who helps them despite the hostility of his community. There isn't much of a plot and rather a lot of uninteresting stuff about geological surveys and mines which don't actually add anything to the story. The situation that leads to John's mammoth journey to Trondheim is quite contrived, just to get him to the final section.
September 18, 2014
I did not like at all!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews