Ghost Dance
Author: Mark T. Sullivan
4.5 out of 5 stars
After getting divorced one year before, documentary filmmaker Patrick Gallagher’s life is on a downward spiral. Since his divorce, he’s had problems focusing on his work and has missed multiple filming deadlines. His partner gives him one last chance to prove he can still work by sending him to Lawton, Vermont for a documentary about the process of a priest becoming a saint with a Lawton priest from the early 1900s, Father D’Angelo, being the focus. However, only days after arriving, Pat discovers the body of the town dentist in the river. In charge of the case is Andie Nightingale who Pat feels an instant attraction to. When Andie investigates the victim’s home, she finds a drawing and letter left by the killer who calls himself Charun. This is just the start of a wild and twisting journey through the secrets of Lawton’s past and the murder of a Native American woman at the turn of the century.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s very well written and is intriguing from the very first chapter. The fist chapter takes place on the day of Father D’Angelo’s death. Right before dying he tells a boy to pray for him because he’s “one of the damned.” As I continued reading, I just had more and more questions about how these different things were connected. Slowly, multiple pieces are revealed, and Sullivan does a wonderful job of weaving everything together.
Andie and Pat are compelling main characters. They’re both flawed people whose traumatic pasts continue to influence them. As the story progressed, their connection grew as they get to know each other while working together. There’s a lot of development for both of their character’s, but Pat’s is the most noticeable in that he goes from being a very firm atheist and that death is the end, to believing in the afterlife and that there is something more to the world.
There were also many wonderful descriptions of the Vermont scenery which often helped set the tone of the chapter. Sometimes, it was also used as a tie in to the characters emotions. Although, sometimes the descriptions were a little too long and more detailed than they needed to be.
The only real negative is that there are some editing mistakes. The main one being someone’s name is spelled both Terrance and Terrence. There were also some oddly worded sentences that would have made more sense if they were reworded. So my final rating is 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book does need some warnings. There are a lot of mentions throughout of alcoholism. There are also some discussions of rape and suicide.
As a final note, I actually bought my paperback copy of Ghost Dance at a thrift store. On Amazon, there are complaints regarding the editing of the Kindle version of this book, which I can’t speak to but did want to point out.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $2.99
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Dance-Mark-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B06XYS4J27/
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)