SCAVENGER

Author: David Morrell ISBN: 1593154410 3/2007 FICTION/THRILLER Publisher: VANGUARD PRESS

David Morrell's Creepers was a publishing event in 2005, a powerful, edgy, dark thriller by a master of the genre. A New York Times best-seller, it won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award and earned numerous critical raves. Scavenger, Morrell's latest novel, takes us in a harrowing new direction: a desperate high-tech scavenger hunt for a 100-year-old time capsule. Frank Balenger, the resolute but damaged hero of Creepers, now finds himself trapped in a nightmarish game of fear and death. To save himself and the woman he loves, he must play by the rules of a god-like Game Master with an obsession for unearthing the past. But sometimes the past is buried for a reason. Scavenger is a brilliant, frightening hunter-hunted tale that layers modern technology over the dusty artifacts of earlier times. The result is a surreal palimpsest, one that contains the secret of survival for Balenger and a handful of unwilling players who race against the game's clock to solve the puzzle of the time capsule, only to discover that time is the true scavenger. Morrell's trademark action sequences are embedded with fascinating historical clues that make Scavenger a thrill-a-minute page-turner as well as a mesmerizing literary experience.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Enter SCAVENGER and be prepared for an extraordinary roller coaster ride into terror.

Morrell combines an air-tight plot with brazenly relentless action and some vivid characterizations to create a bloody brilliant thriller.

SCAVENGER leaps from the starting gate fast and that wickedly furious pace never lets up. One horrific scene follows another as SCAVENGER pits six so-called media heroes against a manipulative, ghoulish baddie (the Game Master) in an obstacle course/scavenger hunt. The creepy Game Master's version of a human video game is a chilling race against time.

While SCAVENGER boasts a wonderfully imaginative plot, Frank Balenger and Amanda Evert (fresh from another desperate situation in Morrell's previous CREEPERS) are the real highlights of SCAVENGER.

Actions often speak louder than words. Balenger and Amanda's characters are developed more through their actions in the face of danger. Despite their fragile emotional states lingering from their adventures in CREEPERS, these two remarkable characters overcome their fears and past traumas to rise to meet the Game Master's bizarre challenges.

SCAVENGER is exceptional, perfectly balancing several elements to deliver a flat-out amazing, completely enthralling story.

Kudos to Mr. Morrell.

Debbie Jett