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    Shade of Pale
    Shade of Pale
    Shade of Pale
    Ebook286 pages5 hours

    Shade of Pale

    By Greg Kihn

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A “fast-paced and entertaining” tale of a New York psychiatrist, an Irish terrorist, and a seductive banshee from the author of Horror Show (Library Journal).
     
    Manhattan psychiatrist Jukes Wahler first spies her through a deli window: a stunning redheaded beauty who turns to look at him before she vanishes down the street. Then a patient tells him about a woman who’s been stalking him, convinced that she’s the banshee, the Irish angel of death. She’s young, beautiful . . . and has red hair. It must be a coincidence, right? After all, the patient is dangerously delusional. But Wahler soon has other things to worry about. His sister, Cathy, and her abusive boyfriend are missing, and his only lead is Padraic O’Connor, an ex–IRA commando and the leader of one of Northern Ireland’s most radical terrorist groups, who will offer his help—for a price.
     
    Filled with larger-than-life characters, including a jaded cop with no patience for the paranormal, a beautiful professor who specializes in Irish mythology, and a centuries-old protector of the innocent, Shade of Pale tells a fast-paced story of fate, vengeance, and love.
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateAug 18, 2015
    ISBN9781504018616
    Shade of Pale
    Author

    Greg Kihn

    NBC called Greg Kihn “Rock’s true renaissance man.” His career stretches from the dawn of punk and indie rock to the discos of the 1980s to the glory days of MTV. As a pioneer with the legendary Beserkley Records, he helped write the book on revolutionary West Coast rock ‘n’ roll. In the 1990s, Greg turned his attention to writing fiction. He published four novels and a handful of short stories in various anthologies, and edited a compilation of original fiction by famous musicians. Horror Show was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel.

    Read more from Greg Kihn

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    Reviews for Shade of Pale

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      I enjoy stories based on mythology, and Greg Kihn's Shade of Pale was no exception. The mythical creature at the center of this novel is the Irish Banshee, who traditionally wails in grief over a person's impending death, thereby allowing both friends and family to say goodbye and otherwise prepare for the loss of their loved one. Kihn's Banshee, however, is much more aggressive; her wail actually kills the men at which it is directed, in fairly gruesome ways. Not surprisingly, this ability makes her a formidable weapon, which some would like to control and wield against their enemies.The Banshee is the common factor linking three main plot lines: the disappearance of a psychiatrist's sister; the strangling murders of several prostitutes; and the unexplained violent deaths of two men in New York City, whose only connection appears to be that they are both Irish. Kihn does a fine job at maintaining the suspense in all three plots while simultaneously weaving them together to create a satisfying finale. My only real complaint was his introduction of the "Banshee as weapon" idea, which provided some well-deserved gore at the end of the book but otherwise felt tacked on to the overall explanation for the Banshee's appearance in the New World. (Traditionally, the Banshee grieves for Irish emigrants at their ancestral family seat.)There are a couple of minor factual gaffes, including a psychiatrist without a cell phone in 1997 and a battery-powered hand drill which is fully charged after the power to its charging cradle has been turned off for months, if not years. These glitches occur in the last 50 pages, though, so they do not significantly disrupt the reader's immersion in the narrative.Verdict: Recommended for paranormal fantasy fans and crime thriller fans who don't mind a supernatural element.I received a free copy of Shade of Pale through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      Shade of Pale, written by a San Jose D.J. (whom I've never heard on the radio) takes place in New York but starts with the thesis: the banshee is real. It then carefully melds modern horror (a la Ringu or The Grudge) with a New York City based detective story. It has a few distractions in the form of an IRA subplot that can be skipped without losing anything from the overall flow of the story.
    • 2/5
      I usually try and read an author's books in the order they're published, but I managed to snag all of Kihn's books at once and, seeing that three of them are linked, decided to start with his second published (and stand alone) novel.

      Likely a mistake.

      Now I'm viewing the time I'll spend reading his other novels with some trepidation.

      The reason for this is based solely on what I got out of this novel, Shade Of Pale. It's not a horrible book, and the story itself, in the hands of a more adept writer, would likely be really creepy and really engaging. I get the sense Kihn was reaching for more than he was capable of.

      For such a short novel, this story is littered with far too many characters, none of which are given much more than cursory personalities--and all of that is told, not shown. Kihn, at least in this novel, is the master of telling and the master of the adverb. Unfortunately, he is nowhere near the master of dialogue, characterization, or pacing.

      In fact, the protagonist, Jukes, is such a boring, self-doubting dork who gets pushed around by everyone he comes in contact with, it stretches the imagination far beyond the suspension of disbelief when he finally meets the strong, confident, beautiful and educated (if given to boring monologues about Banshees and shock) Fiona, there was literally no point where I believed their relationship. They came together only because the author wanted them to, not because he'd built the story and characters to support it.

      The book also had a fair amount of filler. The entire IRA subplot could have been excised without impacting the story, and Jukes' examination of the cellar of the cabin was obviously to try and throw in a creepy scene, but it went nowhere.

      And the Banshee? Underutilized. Her key scenes happened, for the most part, off-stage. Her actions often made little sense. Basically, an absolutely brilliant "monster" that Kihn seemed to not truly know what to do with.

      I'm really hoping Horrorshow and its followups are much better.

    Book preview

    Shade of Pale - Greg Kihn

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