Mystery Walk

Billy Creedmore lives in a small rural Southern town with his parents. He is shunned by the other children and his family is shunned by the town. His mother is called a witch for her ability to help the dead. Townspeople call on her when she is needed but stay far away from her otherwise. When the family of Billy's best friend is murdered, he feels a strange calling to enter their house. Their spirits are shocked and can't cross over. There Billy discovers his life calling. He also has the ability to help those who can't cross over do so.

Wayne Falconer leads a very different life. His family is wealthy where Billy's is dirt poor. He is the son of a famous evangelist and spends his summers traveling with the crusade. One night his father discovers Wayne's talent; he can heal the sick. Or at least it seems that way. Wayne becomes famous as the sick and dying flock to him to be healed. Everyone believes in him, except for Ramona Creedmore and her son. When they come to the crusade, they see through Wayne and see that he can heal no one.

Thus begins a rivalry between the two boys that continues as they grow up. Each has a talent. Each is learning how to use and shape it and wondering how their lives should revolve around it. Each fears the other and the Shape Changer, a beast that comes to them in dreams and tells them how it will kill them and eat their souls. When they are grown, they meet again and must discover family secrets and what is the truth about their powers. They must unite to fight the Shape Changer and hopefully defeat him once and for all.

Robert McCammon has a talent for writing books that are compelling and keep the reader turning the pages to discover what happens next. This book is considered a mystery/horror classic and readers will be interested to see which boy can rise to defeat the forces aligned against them both. It is recommended for mystery and horror readers.

I didn't want to give this books 1 star because it is a great book. So I gave it 5 stars, but this review is going to be of this printing from Pocket Books.

1) This is a POD or Print on Demand edition which I guess means they didn't put a lot of work into its release.

2) It's WAY over-priced As of this review: $18.71 List price: $25.99

3) The font and layout is an exact duplicate of the original Mass market book released about 2 decades ago.- The font is very small, and does not fill up the larger pages like a standard trade paperback edition.

4) Nothing was updated or improved to give it the $25.99 asking price. It is literally the same book re-released with a higher asking price The pages in the back have a list of "available books" by McCammon via Pocket Books: only 3 of the 9 listed are still in print.

I explain this not as a petty complaint, but to inform the buyer of what to expect. This book is still the original read, so if you do not have this great novel and are looking to purchase it, then by all means go ahead - I did the same. But if you're conscious of your wallet and are going to spend the $19 price expecting to get more than just a standard mass market paper back, be aware that the only difference is that there is more blank paper to each page - which apparently knocks the asking price up by $20.

However, Pocket Books was nice enough to actually make this novel along with Usher's Passing available for those readers that were not aware of Robert McCammon's great works over 2 decades ago. So thank you to them for the opportunity to purchase a new book instead of a beat up used edition, but I'm quite disappointing on the high price and small cheap font.

This is a marvelous book. I was hooked within the first few pages of the book. I couldn't put it down until I reached the end. It's a wild roller-coaster ride of emotions. I found it to be one of those books that when I finished reading it, I still wanted to read more about the characters and continue the adventure of the Mystery Walk. Robert McCammon's writing and storytelling are amazing. You can read his work and never have to realize that you are reading. You can just totally lose yourself in the fiction. I also very much enjoyed Robert McCammon's Swan Song and Boy's Life and I will surely be reading more of his work.

This was the second McCammon novel I've read and wasn't dissapointed. RM makes his money on creating characters that jump out of the page. The story is believable (always liked Indian folklore). There are some truly creepy parts in this book. One in particular involves a table saw. The ending of this book faded just a bit from the intensity of the story but still a great book.

Absolutely loved this book! Robert McCammon is definitely up there with Stephen King (who is my favorite author) Have to buy all of their books!!

Book story line is good, but the book itself is crap. Pages coming loose from the binding, print seems a bit blurry and supper small to read. Not sure who put this together as a book but its super amature and difficult to read wth out breaking loose a page from the binding. Probably have to go into the trash after reading, as it won't be donatable which is what I do when finished with all my books.

Another great book by McCammon.

Live most of this authors books. This is a good one!

The discrimination in the book made it difficult to read. Well written, however. If the reader can move past the prejudices against people of color, it may be an interesting novel for you. Previously enjoyed some of Mr. McCammon's other works and will continue to read them.

McCammon's output has always been wildly uneven. I've read some GREAT pulp novels by him (Swan Song, Boy's Life) and some truly hideous ones (Stinger). This book is definitely one of his best, but it is EXTREMELY slow paced and repetitious. With some judicious editing (at least 50 pages could easily be cut without losing any of the plot line) this could have been a truly GREAT pulp horror novel, but it's simply too slow to warrant that judgement. The finale is exceptional - tense and satisfying, without going too over-the-top.