The Forgotten
by
Tamara Thorne

Pinnacle Books, November 2002, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0-7860-1475-X

Genre: Horror
Subgenre: Supernatural
Reviewed: 12/30/2004

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

Dinner Party

"Spill it, Wilbur," Kevin said.

"I'll give you a clue. My mother loved the movie High Noon. I'm named after Gary Cooper's character."

"Will, darling. I'm gay. I don't watch westerns."

"I do," Gabe said. "Cooper was the sheriff who saved the town." He looked at Kevin. "You never seen it? Really?"

"I like Wild Wild West reruns. Well, I like Jim West's pants. And vests." He giggled some more.

"Kevin, if you drink as much as I do, you need to gain fifty pounds," Gabe said before returning his attention to Will. "Cooper's character was, uh, Miller?"

"No, that was the chief bad guy. Frank Miller."

"Will Kane." Gabe grinned triumphantly.

"Give that man a cigar." Will grinned back.

"Well, so, what was Will Kane's full name?" Kevin asked. "William, Wilbur, Wil--"

"No! Don't do it again!" Will laughed. "The character's name was 'Will.' My name, therefore, is Will."

"Just Will?"

"Yes. You look disappointed."

"It's like you got cheated out of some syllables. I feel sorry for you. You're a name amputee."

Will cracked up. "It's okay, Kevin. I've learned to live with it. I even like it."

"Really?" Kevin sounded amazed, but his eyes twinkled with merriment.

"Yes. I--What's wrong?"

Kevin's animated face had gone slack and now his color drained away. He swallowed and nodded toward the living room.

Will looked. They all did. Floating slightly above the floor, the specter of Carrie Cockburn held a gun. The yellow dress was coated down the middle with scarlet gore, and her head, what there was of it, was just as Kevin had described.

Will's stomach tumbled, but he forced himself to stand and approach the figure. His head swam as he circled the specter, thinking it was probably a hologram. What else could it be? Someone was playing a trick on Gabe and Kevin. A horrible trick. He forced himself to look directly at the head with it hanging jaw and skull shards and blood and brains.

A similar vision reeled through his mind. A memory. His ears started ringing, louder and louder. Michael! I killed you! Then black mist swirled into his vision and the world went away.

Synopsis

Dr. Will Banning is a psychiatrist in the small town of Caledonia, California, just above San Luis Obispo on Highway 1. He has been noticing an increase in patients lately who have been seeing apparitions, or as they claim, ghosts. Being a man of science, Will does not believe them, but is worried about how he is going to handle the the increasing load of new patients.

Kevin Bass, Will's gay receptionist, and his partner, Gabe Rawlins, a chiropractor, are at home one evening when a pair of ghosts show up. Daniel Hatch, one of Will's patients, is hearing a voice that it telling him what to do . . . coming from his penis. Lara Sweethome is hearing her dead mother tromp around upstairs and even had her get into bed with her.

Maggie Maewood has been Will's friend since they were children and is now the local veterinarian. She has been attracted to Will since they were kids, but he has always denied his feeling toward her. She has noticed and increase in both wild and domesticated animal behavior changes. Will's oldest brother, Michael, had been killed in a hunting accident when Will was just a boy. Will remembers seeing the hole that had been blown through his brother by the shotgun he was holding, but has suppressed the memory.

One night when he hears his dead brother calling to him from under the bed, the memories slowly start coming back. Will's middle brother, Pete, is supposedly retired from the military and runs the local cable company. He has been installing a new cable box in everyone's home that has a lot of new feature. But what his customer's don't know is that they are now the unwitting recipients of US Government testing of Project Tingler, which is supposed to cause nonspecific mental aberrations in human. What the government does not realize is that it also affects the nonliving . . . and they are not going to stay invisible anymore.

The Forgotten is a haunting story by Tamara Thorne. This is the story about how one man struggles with his past will the town he loves so much started to fall apart because of secretive government testing.

Review

Right from the get go, I liked the way Tamara Thorne put words to paper. She has a simple and satisfying was of telling a story that makes it very believable. The characters in the story are well-though out and the plot is electrifying.

I found that I did not want to put the book down because I had to know about Will's past and how they were going to stop Project Tingler. Would the ghosts invade and kill everyone? Or are they just apparitions for people to see? Would the government stop its testing when they noticed the ghosts? Or would they just continue and watch what happens? I really enjoyed this tale of ghosts and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't a splatter book. Is the story scary? No, at least it wasn't to me, but it is a great tale.

The Forgotten by Tamara Thorne is an excellent book that any ghost enthusiast will enjoy.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.