The Mountain King

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In the halls... of the Mountain King...There are many legends and ancient tales concerning Mount Agiochook, the second tallest mountain in Maine. Some of these tales speak of a demon that resides on the rocky slopes near the mountain's snow-crested summit. Legend has it that a force of supernatural evil periodically emerges from the mists that shroud the mountain and comes down to the valley, looking to claim a life.Sometimes the life it claims is an animal — perhaps a stray dog or a farmer's cow or a horse. At other times, it claims a human life, a straying hiker or a lost camper.Mark Newman has hiked the numerous trails to the summit of Mount Agiochook many times. He has heard the stories and Indian legend, but he doesn't believe them.Not until one September afternoon, when an early snow storm sweeps through the mountains, and he witnesses something he knows can't possibly be real.But it is all too real!Convinced that there is something lurking near the summit of the mountain... something terrible... something that won't be satisfied with claiming just one human life, Mark vows to hunt it down and destroy it.What he doesn't know is that he, too, is being hunted. Under suspicion for the murders of his best friend and his wife's lover, Mark is being pursued by the local police, an angry mob, and something else... something he can't begin to comprehend until he confronts it, face to face.From international best-selling author Rick Hautala — with dust jacket artwork and interior illustrations by acclaimed artist Stephen R. Bissette, creator of Tyrant — comes this terrifying adventure story of horror and suspense that will thrill you and haunt you long after you've finished reading it. This deluxe edition is protected inside a handmade cloth slipcase and is signed by the author!From Publishers WeeklyEven a monster of such legendary stature as Bigfoot isn't big enough to carry Hautala's routine pursuit-and-capture scenario very far. The tale begins promisingly, with a riveting scene atop Mount Agiochook in Maine: Mark Newman watches helplessly as his friend Phil Sawyer is plucked from a ravine by a Sasquatch. Mark can't get any friends back in town to believe what he says he saw; moreover, he becomes the prime suspect in Mark's disappearance and, later, in the bestial murder of his wife's lover. In this marked departure from his usual tales of ghostly terror, Hautala (Beyond the Shroud) shows a deft hand for orchestrating action and suspense, making Mark the object of two manhunts--by the townspeople and by the monster--when he returns to the mountain to search for Phil. After a few close scrapes, though, the potential for Mark to do anything but play hide-and-seek with his pursuers is exhausted, and Hautala resorts to obvious plot stretchers: characters fainting dead away at the end of chapters, sudden nocturnal forays into town by creatures that have kept their distance from humans for centuries and the gruesome demises of victims who exist solely to prolong the story with their death throes. Although designed to deliver the sort of thrills that would make anyone squeamish about being alone in the woods, this novel ultimately settles for the guilty pleasures of its villains' tabloid infamy. Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalDuring a hiking trip high atop Mount Agiochook, Mark Newman watches in horror as a Bigfoot-like creature carries off his injured friend, Phil. While searching the mountain, Mark becomes a suspect in Phil's disappearance and the murder of his wife's lover. Hautala is known mostly for writing paperbacks and adapting role-playing games as novels. Regrettably, his second hardcover novel is simplistic, unimaginative, and poorly written. It reads like the script for a made-for-TV movie, with a completely plot-driven story and little attention to character development. Hautala aspires to terrify through action alone?and fails. Not recommended.?John Noel, Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., LebanonCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.