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The Man Who Would Not Die
A simple one-night stand turns into a nightmare for Kate Burnham, a dynamic young magazine feature writer and photographer. Unknown to Kate, her fleeting lover, Daniel Forrester, dies horrifically within hours of their parting and their passion becomes the terrifying focus of his ghostly reincarnation.
As Kate tries to unravel the mystery of his bizarre appearances in her life, she becomes increasingly convinced that he has become a dangerous, unstable stalker, little knowing that no human force can now keep him from pursuing his unearthly lusts.
All the while Forrester's body lies in a ghoulish machine which will not let his spirit rest. A machine designed as a medical marvel, but which drags him time and again back into the world of the living, tormenting his soul...
As Kate tries to unravel the mystery of his bizarre appearances in her life, she becomes increasingly convinced that he has become a dangerous, unstable stalker, little knowing that no human force can now keep him from pursuing his unearthly lusts.
All the while Forrester's body lies in a ghoulish machine which will not let his spirit rest. A machine designed as a medical marvel, but which drags him time and again back into the world of the living, tormenting his soul...
259 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1981
8 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Page
5 books12 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 14, 2022
Rounded up from 3.5. An interesting medico-philosophical-horror book with a few good chills, but very very very slow. Still, the payoff makes up for the pacing.
June 7, 2010
My friend and colleague Tom Page wrote The Man Who Would Not Die - twice. No, I'm not talking about the multitude of drafts, experimental and otherwise, that any writer generates when producing a book. Back in 1981, Tom first wrote, and then Seaview Books published, what has now become a cult sci-fi classic about a handsome rake on inconveniently non-terminal life support. Then came a Signet edition, then one from Hamlyn. (Read the full review on my blog Boychik Lit http://www.boychiklit.com/2010/06/boo...)
November 2, 2025
“Suppose we have death all wrong”. This is a former doctor speaking, now sales rep, or con man, for the Stendhal Holmes life support system, a machine designed to keep a body alive after the heart stops. Straight away this reminded me of Poe’s The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar but Page, ingeniously, takes things further.
A salesman for the machine, Daniel Forrester, dies, but keeps coming back to haunt the medical investigators. It could be that the machine has jolted his heart back to life, or he is actually dead and it is his ghost, the reader can never be sure. If Forrester is a ghost, are such apparitions able to manifest
physically..
This is a thought-provoking piece of writing that broaches a variety of themes; the advances in science and cryogenics, the supernatural, reincarnation, resurrection and the concept of Summerland, a term used in pagan tradition that refers to a peaceful afterlife realm, a place of rest and rejuvenation before reincarnation.
Published in 1981 it is ahead of its time in many ways. Page’s writing does tend to ramble a bit though, but his ideas are so interesting I can live with that. Reissued by Valancourt in 2019 it does seem especially relevant forty five years later.
A salesman for the machine, Daniel Forrester, dies, but keeps coming back to haunt the medical investigators. It could be that the machine has jolted his heart back to life, or he is actually dead and it is his ghost, the reader can never be sure. If Forrester is a ghost, are such apparitions able to manifest
physically..
This is a thought-provoking piece of writing that broaches a variety of themes; the advances in science and cryogenics, the supernatural, reincarnation, resurrection and the concept of Summerland, a term used in pagan tradition that refers to a peaceful afterlife realm, a place of rest and rejuvenation before reincarnation.
Published in 1981 it is ahead of its time in many ways. Page’s writing does tend to ramble a bit though, but his ideas are so interesting I can live with that. Reissued by Valancourt in 2019 it does seem especially relevant forty five years later.
September 14, 2022
The Man Who Would Not Die is a pretty thoughtful and innovative ghost thriller. The story is about Daniel Forrester, a charismatic salesman, who helps install a state of the art life-support machine. This machine keeps the body going in increasingly inventive ways, even in seemingly hopeless cases. As it so happens, Forrester will help test drive the life-support system after his plane crashes near the hospital he sold it to. Once his body enters the life-support chamber, the machine simply will not let him die, as he goes into cardiac arrest, it keeps bringing him back. However, in those moments of death, Daniel Forrester is seen by those who knew him, in places he most definitely should not be...
What is a pretty thrilling ghost story starts off on a great foot, giving us mystery and intrigue surrounding the clinic where Forrester sells his life-support system. Characterization is handled well too, as you can see early on who the "hero" will be, the love interest, the doctor with a secret, etc... And when Forrester appears to those who have wronged him, those pages are rather gripping as we see how the phantom of a man can still get revenge. However, right as the story should be taking off, some sections of the tale get lost in the spiritual and scientific mumbo jumbo, as Page tries to scientifically show this phenomenon happening on page. Those parts kill a great deal of momentum he had otherwise built up. Still, this was a fun page turner, though I personally preferred Page's bigfoot tale, The Spirit more.
What is a pretty thrilling ghost story starts off on a great foot, giving us mystery and intrigue surrounding the clinic where Forrester sells his life-support system. Characterization is handled well too, as you can see early on who the "hero" will be, the love interest, the doctor with a secret, etc... And when Forrester appears to those who have wronged him, those pages are rather gripping as we see how the phantom of a man can still get revenge. However, right as the story should be taking off, some sections of the tale get lost in the spiritual and scientific mumbo jumbo, as Page tries to scientifically show this phenomenon happening on page. Those parts kill a great deal of momentum he had otherwise built up. Still, this was a fun page turner, though I personally preferred Page's bigfoot tale, The Spirit more.
November 16, 2022
This book was such a fun romp. A machine is being tried out at a local hospital. It is a capsule in which the patient lies on a layer of gel. The machine will get all the organs back in working order and restart the heart. The first man put into it has problems. It keeps restarting his heart also he can't die. He alternates between blackouts and being in the "pernatural" world. This causes all sorts of problems for the girl he met recently and the doctors involved. The first few chapters have cheesy dialogue but get past that and the book is a rollercoaster of fun. It's campy and full of pseudo-science but I didn't care. I was along for the ride from outrageous event to event. Lots of excitement in this eighties campy ghost story.
April 13, 2022
An amazing novel. Extremely well written. Despite it being fictional the author has clearly done a lot of research or is very knowledgeable in the topic of medicine/health care and also the supernational. The whole concept of this story is very unique and rememberable. Loved it.
September 9, 2025
If I remember correctly (it's a while since I read it) this Thomas Page thriller is thematically similar to the Patrick Swayze film "Ghost". I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it. But not so much that any plot details have remain.
January 16, 2020
Fantastic ghost story! You wouldn't think it from the title or the picture on the cover, but man, if you love ghost stories, this one's for you.
August 9, 2021
What a great read! It’s a shame we haven’t gotten more novels from this author, because I would read every one.
June 29, 2023
ghosts aint shit bro theyre like them kids on the playground that hover their hand over you and go "im not touching you haha you cant be mad if i dont touch you"
July 22, 2012
Cliched and trite, the "woman he loved" turns out to be a woman he spent an entire week with before he died. The story turned out to be a dull ghost story with a veneer of medical and technobabble sprinkled on top of it.
Very briefly, an amazing machine can keep someone alive longer than any other device could. A hopeless case is put into it and he dies over and over again--the machine reviving him each time. He becomes a ghost when his heart is stopped and starts haunting people. The ghost is capable of careful planning yet the book claims, numerous times, that he only can handle one thought at a time.
Add generic characters and cliches and you'll have the book in a nutshell. The book even manages to have a happy ending. Really. I shouldn't have read it. You shouldn't either.
Very briefly, an amazing machine can keep someone alive longer than any other device could. A hopeless case is put into it and he dies over and over again--the machine reviving him each time. He becomes a ghost when his heart is stopped and starts haunting people. The ghost is capable of careful planning yet the book claims, numerous times, that he only can handle one thought at a time.
Add generic characters and cliches and you'll have the book in a nutshell. The book even manages to have a happy ending. Really. I shouldn't have read it. You shouldn't either.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews