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Graham Yates was raised in Arizona by a single mother. Lydia Yates had left Tuonela, Wisconsin 16 years ago after telling Evan Stroud that she was pregnant and it was his child. Then she and her mother left town and no one ever heard from her again. Until now – when she drops Graham off on Evan's front porch and peels rubber getting back out of town. According to Graham it is her usual threat, but this time she has carried it through. Tuonela is an odd little town, populated by odd people. Some of them leave for greener pastures, but most of the citizens were born and raised there and seemingly have no desire to leave. The town, or rather the old town, has a sinister reputation dating back some 100 years earlier when a killer called The Pale Immortal roamed the town, draining the blood from his victims and, some said, drinking the blood. A cult has grown up around the killer's history and a group of young wannabe tough guys have taken to calling their little gang The Pale Immortals and get up to some unsavory pranks, insisting that they are trying to become immortal themselves. Because of a strange disease that prevents him from ever being exposed to sunlight, Evan is called a vampire by many of the youths in town. Evan has become a reasonably successful writer, mostly writing about the Tuonela area and the legend of the Pale Immortal. When Graham is dropped into his life, Evan doesn't believe he is the boy's father, but how do you tell a 16-year-old that his mother was a nymphomaniac? A murder occurs and the blood is drained from the body which starts up all the old tales of the Pale Immortal. Some in town think Evan is involved, especially those who claim he is a vampire but the police chief takes a cautious attitude towards Evan. Evan agrees to take responsibility for Graham until Lydia can be located. Graham enrols in the local high school and gets involved with the Pale Immortals briefly, but his only real friend is Isobel, a very mature young woman who sees good things in the confused young man. THE PALE IMMORTAL is an interesting study of people in an isolated community obsessed with the lurid past of the town. Everyone is affected in one way or the other. Evan and his friend Rachel, the coroner, must solve a deadly mystery and find some way to help Evan keep Graham in his life. The characters are sort of far-fetched, but fascinating and I'd like to read further adventures of this strange little group of people in their strange hometown.
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, October 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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