Outdoorsman and documentary filmmaker Patrick Gallagher had torpedoed a promising career through self-destructive self-pity and procrastination. Now he seeks redemption in tiny, isolated Lawton, Vermont, embarking upon a new project and, perhaps, a last chance. But there is no salvation to be found in Lawton--not for Gallagher, or for Andie Nightingale, the beautiful but haunted local policewoman who befriends him...or for anyone living within the borders of the sleepy New England hamlet. For a local history that no one dares to speak about has enflamed a maniac's bloodlust, and his desire for vengeance.
It is Gallagher who discovers the first corpse while out fishing--the body of a large man, tortured, ravaged, and hideously mutilated; a horror despoiling the pristine natural landscape. Nearby is a crudely drawn picture, chilling in its implications, accompanied by a grim, cryptic threat--and a name: Charon, boatman on the river to Hell.
And there are more murders to come--each more grisly than the last--awakening the personal ghosts that haunt Gallagher and Nightingale, while drawing them deeper into the horrors of a past century...and closer to shocking revelations of brutal, shared guilt contained in the lost writing of a long-dead Lakota woman. For evil once rolled into Lawton in the wagon of a traveling show. And here it has remained for one hundred years, taking human form once more as an elusive and terrifying killer who ruthlessly stalks those who guard the terrible legacy of their great-grandparents. And the secrets to Charon's power, obsession and defeat lie in the spiritual place that Patrick Gallagher and Andie Nightingale most fear must enter: theforbidden realm of the Ghost Dance.
"Skillfully plotted...an ingenious story...crackling good...guaranteed to seize and grip your attention from first page to last."(- Manchester Journal Inquirer )
"A grisly tale...a web of destruction that includes government assassins, spiritualists, and even Sitting Bull's niece."(- Chicago Tribune)
"A master of the art...[of] good old-fashioned storytelling."(-Syracuse Herald American)
Genre: Mystery
It is Gallagher who discovers the first corpse while out fishing--the body of a large man, tortured, ravaged, and hideously mutilated; a horror despoiling the pristine natural landscape. Nearby is a crudely drawn picture, chilling in its implications, accompanied by a grim, cryptic threat--and a name: Charon, boatman on the river to Hell.
And there are more murders to come--each more grisly than the last--awakening the personal ghosts that haunt Gallagher and Nightingale, while drawing them deeper into the horrors of a past century...and closer to shocking revelations of brutal, shared guilt contained in the lost writing of a long-dead Lakota woman. For evil once rolled into Lawton in the wagon of a traveling show. And here it has remained for one hundred years, taking human form once more as an elusive and terrifying killer who ruthlessly stalks those who guard the terrible legacy of their great-grandparents. And the secrets to Charon's power, obsession and defeat lie in the spiritual place that Patrick Gallagher and Andie Nightingale most fear must enter: theforbidden realm of the Ghost Dance.
"Skillfully plotted...an ingenious story...crackling good...guaranteed to seize and grip your attention from first page to last."(- Manchester Journal Inquirer )
"A grisly tale...a web of destruction that includes government assassins, spiritualists, and even Sitting Bull's niece."(- Chicago Tribune)
"A master of the art...[of] good old-fashioned storytelling."(-Syracuse Herald American)
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Mark Sullivan combines poetic writing with eerie elements of mysticism to fashion yet another fascinating thriller." - Tess Gerritsen
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Used availability for Mark T Sullivan's Ghost Dance
Hardback Editions
July 1999 : USA Hardback
September 1999 : UK Hardback
Paperback Editions
April 2017 : USA Paperback
October 2000 : USA Paperback
November 1999 : UK Paperback
Audio Editions
August 2016 : USA MP3 CD
November 2012 : USA Audio edition
November 2012 : Canada Audio edition
Kindle Editions
March 2017 : USA, Australia, Canada, UK Kindle edition