A nother great book from Barbar Michaels I think one of her best
I usually finish a Barbara Michaels in about 3 days. Not getting it at all.
One foggy evening, the members of the illustrious Society For Psychical Research meet in the smoking room of an exclusive London men's club. Amid the glowing cigars, decanters of brandy, and the charming air of camaraderie, sit men who are the acknowledged geniuses within their various specialties. They are considered some of the most famous crime specialists in the world, and are gathered together with mystery on their minds. On the agenda for tonight's program are two tantalizing, unsolved cases of ghostly terror.
Some of the greatest minds are represented in this group, and all those present eagerly turn their considerable powers of deductive reasoning to the cases at hand. Those present for tonight's performance include, Harry Houdini; the king of illusion; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, father of the modern detective novel; and Dr. Nandor Fodor, a psychoanalyst of international acclaim. Tonight's special guest is an elegant writer herself, who can rival them all with her sleuthing talent.
These eminent masters of mystery will set their minds to unraveling the intricacies in a pair of gripping stories - stories of two families beset by poltergeists' pranks and bewitched by inexplicable otherworldly horrors. Gripping puzzles, to be sure, but these families terror is all too vicious and all too real. In the hollows of Tennessee, a family is threatened by a spirit's dire predictions of despair and death that come true with a frightening reality. In a small Connecticut town, a recently remarried widow and her young children move into her second husband's home and soon find their lives possessed by some unimaginable demonic entity.
For those in attendance at the club this evening, a brilliant battle of wits has begun. Were these villainous evil doers actually phantoms from beyond the grave or miscreants who were grounded more solidly in the world of flesh and blood reality? Each expert has an opportunity to voice their own theories. Which of them is correct?
In my opinion, this was a great book to read. I found the story to be thoroughly interesting and remarkably well-grounded in a Gothic atmosphere. I give Other Worlds by Barbara Michaels an A+!
To be perfectly honest, neither one of these cases was resolved to my full satisfaction, yet the book still captured my interest and held it all the way through to the end. Actually, of each of the stories presented, I found the second one, 'The Stratford Haunting', perhaps the most interesting one. I must say that I have read and enjoyed several books by Ms. Michaels in the past - a name which is one of the two pseudonyms used by renowned author and Egyptologist, Barbara Mertz. Dr. Mertz also wrote historical mysteries under the pseudonym Elizabeth Peters, as well as several non-fiction books on the study of Egyptology under her own name.
I found this extremely tedious and boring. It reads more like a text book example of poltergeist behavior rather than a novel. Unless you're an academic-type, pass this one up.
I have enjoyed most of her books, but author Michaels really missed the mark on this. Stitches in Time, Patriot's Dream, Vanish With The Rose and Ammee Come Home are all very satisfying tales of the supernatural. Other Worlds is not. Good writing style, but I found it pretty boring.
