Ghost Dance

Rating:
Summary: Historical / Modern Thriller
Review: A finely composed contemporary thriller that unravels a century old mystery. The protagonists are battered, believable members of the baby boom generation, who find themselves having to match wits with a frightening crew of townspeople intent on cover-up of old crimes, and the very deepest evil. Native American religion, a priest up for sainthood, twisted sex, a psychopathic misfit, and dreams and visions from beyond - somehow it all seems to work. The title of this book first captured my attention, as in the past few months the Ghost Dance has appeared in two other pieces of my reading: RavenShadow and Garden in the Dunes, both of which Mamalinda has also reviewed on Amazon, in case your next stop is Wounded Knee.

Rating:
Summary: What a letdown after the brilliant PURIFICATION CEREMONY
Review: As a former Anthropology student and fan of shamanism, as well as reader of fine thriller writers (Sandford, Patterson, Crichton, etc.) I found Mark Sullifan's first novel, The Purification Ceremony, to be extraordinary. It successfully combined a tense murder mystery in the wilderness, with overtones of Don Juan shamanic mysteries schools gone bad. I was very much looking forward to Ghostdance. All the elements are there, but it just doesn't come together. Small town Vermont, with a hidden past, vagabond filmaker, and aging Indian maiden etc, should have been just right for the next installment. I found the plot slow and belabored, and the writing not nearly as taut and controlled as the previous book. As I was reading and discovering my disappointment I found it difficult to believe that the two books were by the same author. I certainly hope that for Mr. Sullivan's next novel, he will be channeling the inner ancestral guide that wrote his first novel and not the one that wrote his second.

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars. A great and thoughful tale....
Review: First let me say that the editors and publishers of this book should be ashamed of themselves. There were grammatical errors all through this book. Paragraphs started where they shouldn't have...punctuation was off...quotes were missing and question marks were used on statement sentences. This was all very distracting, but the theme of the story held my attention, nonetheless.

Also, I could have done without all the swearing. Swearing in dialog is one thing, although not a necessity, but the author's swearing in prose? Please. Show some education.

Now that my rant is over, I must admit that I liked the story of this book. It was quite unique and very gripping. I had trouble putting it down in parts as the suspense built and kept me hooked. Out of all the books I have read, this is definitely one of the most suspenseful and therefore, one of the most needful, overall.

I recommend this book to mature readers. Vivid sexual images won't be acceptable for younger readers, but if you like suspense, this one will fill your needs.


Rating:
Summary: This Book was such a fun read...
Review: I loved this book! I read this during my first year of college and had such a great time with it that I actually found myself late to classes because I just couldn't put it down! It was really a psychologically terrifying novel! I haven't read a lot of books where I was so deeply involved with the characters and so into the plot! I really loved this book. I don't understand the negative reviews because I have also read the Purification Ceremony and thought this book was much better! Read this book!!!! It's the perfect book for reading during a cold, winters night sitting by the fire! I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Whoa, This Is Not What I Was Expecting!
Review: I read The Purification Ceremony by Mark Sullivan a few days ago. I was expecting more of the same type of story line, action, chase the bad guy and kill him. Not that all this is not in this book, it is packed full of it. I wasn't expecting the duel story line. What a wonderful surprise the history story line is. Again, I hung on to every word that Mr. Sullivan wrote in this tight plot. Ghost Dance is more complex than The Purification Ceremony. The author does a great job at weaving everything together. I loved the visions, ghost, etc. I love this type of story any way. You can never out run the past. Mr. Sullivan does a great job of explaining Native American lore and how it intertwines with modern believes. I thank Mark Sullivan for putting so much time and effort into this story. It was great! This is what reading is all about, entertaining the reader. I highly recommended this book. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Rating:
Summary: Whoa, This Is Not What I Was Expecting!
Review: I read The Purification Ceremony by Mark Sullivan a few days ago. I was expecting more of the same type of story line, action, chase the bad guys and kill him. Not that all this is not in this book, it is packed full of it. I wasn't expecting the duel story line. What a wonderful surprise the history story line is. Again, I hung on to every word that Mr. Sullivan wrote in this tight plot. Ghost Dance is more complex than The Purification Ceremony. The author does a great job at weaving everything together. I loved the visions, ghost, etc. I love this type of story any way. You can never out run the past. Mr. Sullivan does a great job of explaining Native American lore and how it intertwines with modern believes. I thank Mark Sullivan for putting so much time and effort into this story. It was great! This is what reading is all about, entertaining the reader. I highly recommended this book. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Let me start out by saying that this is the only book I've read by this author. I loved the book. I thought it was interesting, creative, and well-written. It was a page turner for me. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Let me start out by saying that this is the only book I've read by this author. I loved the book. I thought it was interesting, creative, and well-written. It was a page turner for me. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: it's a page turner!
Review: This was an excellent book - I read it from cover to cover without putting it down!

Rating:
Summary: Ouch.
Review: To begin, I loved THE PURIFICATION CEREMONY. The taut suspense, muscular, adrenalized prose and delicious blend of action/mysticism were a wonderful surprise, and on finishing it I immediately hunted down a used copy of GHOST DANCE. Yikes. To paraphrase the previous reviewer, I can't believe this is the work of the same author. Sullivan once again walks into action/mysticism territory, only to immediately fall flat on his face, break his nose and then proceed to stumble blindly for several hundred pages.

I can't recall the last book I read where the writing was this awkward and forced. Everything from the name of the heroine (full name: Andromeda Nightengale... yeah, that just flows off the tongue) on forward seems the product of a writer trying desperately to replicate a successful formula without the benefit of real inspiration or, for that matter, an interesting story to tell. "Hmmm... what should I do next. I know: CIA assassins! No, no, wait -- I'll have my protagonists stumble into a cave and find some valuable piece of evidence... again. Or I could just give them another feverish, mystical vision. Nobody's tried that before!"

Why did I actually finish this book? I had 4 hours to kill on a plane, and it was either this or try to lipread "Gosford Park." I'm not sure I made the right decision. THE PURIFICATION CEREMONY was good enough to make me curious about Mr. Sullivan's future efforts, but GHOST DANCE is about as painful a mis-step as you'll ever encounter in print.