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Ballantine, Jul 2003, 23.95, 368 pp.
ISBN: 0345446992
Over two decades ago, five Black Valley, Oregon teens buried a still living Whitey Dobbs in the allegedly haunted Hawkins Hill. The quintet feel justice has been served, as the maniacal sadistic Dobbs was very quick to use a switchblade on anyone. Unbeknownst to the group is Dobbs avoided certain death due to radioactivity that turned him into an immortal and allowed him to travel back and forth through time.
Dobbs visits Black Valley intent on killing his enemies one at a time. Feeling no remorse, Dobbs methodically carves up four of his foes and anyone else who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only Nobel Prize winning scientist Dean Truman remains, but he is also the most difficult of the prey as he begins to understand how Dobbs survived his interment and how he can vanish at will. Dean's peer, Piper Blackmoore, joins forces with him in an effort to defeat permanently the slippery Dobbs.
BLACK VALLEY is a supernatural serial killer thriller that seems to go just over the edge with one unbelievable twist after another, but readers will relish suspending belief because the terror seems so real due to the reactions of the victims. Dobbs is almost a comic book character and has been seen in some form of personification (Krueger?) in movies and books often, but Jim Brown never allows him to go too far while managing to make him an original. His opponents add to his aura. The audience will applaud Mr. Brown for this non-stop preternatural action thriller
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Jim Brown Scholar
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Overall Review
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- fantasy story on current Earth
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Time Travel story?
Yes
Horror story?
Yes
Horror plotlets
- the monster chased me!
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- scientist
Age:
- 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
Earth setting:
- current (early 21st century)
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How much dialogue?
- significantly more dialog than descript
