Dreamthorp
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- £2.49
Publisher Description
At first glance, Dreamthorp seems as named -- a charming Pennsylvania Chautauqua town set deep in the woods. A perfect haven from the pressures of urban life. But before long this "village of dreams" is enmeshed in a nightmare, a dark dream of cruel torture and savage death.
Is the cause magic, centuries old? Or is it a new and unexpected magic born of random violence and mindless brutality?
Among those searching for the answer are:
Tom Brewer, a recent widower whose attempts to reconcile with his disturbed teenage son seem as futile as his efforts as a carver to bring life out of wood...
Laura Stark, a newcomer to Dreamthorp, dealing with the mysteries of her newly discovered sexuality and the aftermath of her lover's vicious murder...
And Gilbert Rodman, more than human and far less than divine, a serial killer who lives only for revenge on the one woman his twisted mind blames for his bizarre mutilation -- Laura.
As Rodman blazes his own bloody trail across the country to reach Laura, the horrors of Dreamthorp intensify, until one unholy night Tom and Laura confront the terrors that haunt not only our worst dreams, but our most feared realities.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Williamson's ( Ash Wednesday ) latest novel does not equal his short work. It concerns a small, idyllic Pennsylvania community, Dreamthorp, that has sprung up not far from a wooded area that covers an old Indian burial ground. After a protective talisman is removed from the burial ground by a fortune hunter, sudden and inexplicable violence erupts in Dreamthorp. The plot revolves around three characters: recently widowed art teacher and amateur woodworker Tom Brewer; Laura Stark, an advertising woman with doubts about her sexuality; and Gilbert Rodman, a homicidal young man of Indian descent whose crosscountry killing spree finally takes him to Dreamthorp in pursuit of Laura. Tom and Laura fall in love, but as they are building a relationship, Dreamthorp is disintegrating around them. Williamson's story gradually loses impact, and he fails to draw a believable or esthetically resonant connection between Gilbert Rodman and the vengeful spirits of the dead Indians. While quite readable and full of memorably violent moments, it doesn't add up to much. ( Jan. )
