Follower

by Stephen Gallagher

A story of modern terror and suspense set against an authentic and spectacular background. The Follower—one of Scandinavia’s most intriguing myths. It brings together geologist John Visco, chasing a survey job that may not exist, and Sara Hansun, a woman sticking to her side of a lovers’ agreement in an affair gone cold. Their shared 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, a demon spirit rejected by its maker to live independently and in misery. The Follower’s sole and driving purpose; to achieve a return to human form. To find a new host. "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 "The finest British writer of bestselling popular fiction since le Carré."—John Williams, The Independent

Genres: Horror

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Stoker 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 **

Reviews

[Gem (The Creepy Geek)]

I 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!

[Sharon Bidwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 John's bizarre behaviour, carrying round a gun which made me think he was a hitman, and which it finally turns out he has never fired and treats as a kind of talisman. 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.

[Denise Kuntz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like at all!