The Thin Place
Kathryn Davis
Little, Brown, Jan 2006, $23.95, 288 pp.
ISBN: 0316735043

In Varennes, the three schoolgirls see their neighbor, Mr. Banner lying perfectly still on the beach, even in their youthfulness they can see he is obviously dead. However, instead of getting help, one of children Mees Kipp brings him back to life, a power she has used since she was three and mentored since by Jesus. Her two pals Lorna and Sunny are a bit awed by the revival of Banner from the dead, but do not fully grasp the miracle.

Meanwhile bookbinder Andrea Murdock has done research into the 1870 disaster that still haunts Varennes like it occurred yesterday. Apparently a schoolmarm and several students died in what is now commonly known as the Sunday School Outing Disaster. At the same time nonagenarian Helen Zeebrugge wonders when her sexagenarian son Piet will grow up as he always seems to think with the wrong head. Now newcomer Billie Carpenter targets him, but first must he must deal with an evil related to that 1870 disaster that threatens the existence of the townsfolk today with a repeat of the previous calamity. Not knowing whether to trust Mees, who just might be mentored by the malevolence, Billie's only weapon in her repertoire is love though she has never been the recipient of such.

THE THIN PLACE is a weird but exhilarating King meets Kafka like thriller that haunts readers even after the novel is finished. The story line is character driven, but the changing atmosphere of the town is what the audience senses although they are not fully sure what is coming down. If you have not tried Kathryn Davis you are missing one of the best author's at keeping readers' attention from start to finish as no one knows where the author will escort you to, only that it will be strange, scary, and suspenseful.

Harriet Klausner