Kealan Patrick, Burke The Hides

The Hides

Kealan Patrick Burke

Cemetery Dance, 2005, $40.00

ISBN: 1587671204

Seventeen year old Ohio teenager Timmy Quinn has the uncanny ability to help homicide victims obtain a modicum of revenge by sharing his gift with the murderers. Over the objections of his mother sick of the visits from the curious, the desperate, and the crazies, he agrees to help his neighbor Mr. Knox with his burden, but explains that it is up to the spirit whether to communicate with Quinn; some have moved on, while others just do not want to be seen by any living being. However, the case shakes him at a time when he is vulnerable with his parents splitting.

His father asks Quinn to come to their ancestral home in Dungarvan, Ireland, to especially meet his grieving paternal grandmother. Though reluctant to leave his mom behind, Quinn thinks this is the right thing to do, so he travels across the Atlantic. However, instead of solace in the sea town, he finds the ghosts there much more gruesome looking than back in the States. He wonders why and who the brutal killer could be. He begins to investigate, not understanding that he places himself in danger of being the next victim.

Though the ending defies the Burke Law of paranormal-physics (as established throughout by the encounters), THE HIDES is a fantastic ghost story that grips readers from the moment a desperate Knox asks Timmy for his help, and continues at a fast pace when the teen takes his skills to Ireland. The action packed storyline works because Timmy and his supernatural talent seem genuine, so that the audience believes in ghosts and other apparitions. Horror fans will take immense "gruesome" delight reading Kealan Patrick Burke's solid chiller.