Hannahwhere – John McIlveen (1)

Debbie woke up, startled. Someone had turned the room lamps off and the nurse was little more than a haloed shadow. The only light in the room was the warm, golden glow from the hallway spilling around a mostly closed door, some hazy moonlight, and a smattering of cold white twinkles from distant city lights stealing in around the blinds. “You’re a sound sleeper,” the nurse said good-naturedly. “You’ve both been there quite a while. I figured you’d want to put her into bed before you both cramp up.”

“Too late for that,” Debbie stammered, still disoriented. “Okay. I’ll put her to bed.” “I can, if you’d like,” offered the nurse. “Nah, I’ve got her,” Debbie said. The nurse smiled and it looked somewhat ominous in the dark room. “Okay. Just buzz if you need anything,” she said cheerily and left to continue her rounds.

She wondered if the nurse tapping her on the shoulder had prompted her return from Hannahwhere, if she had truly been there at all. The nurse called her a sound sleeper, which implied that it took a while to wake her. If that were the case, then maybe it was the light being turned off that had caused a sensory change and gotten her attention. It was a distressing thought, especially if the same were true with Hannah and Anna.

Could a subtle change in the environment be more effective than a physical touch, which seemed to her to have gone unnoticed? Wouldn’t the ability to block out the physical be the perfect escapism, especially when avoiding something unpleasant? Yet wouldn’t it also open an avenue for a tormenter to act out his or her heart’s desire without the victim even being aware?

The implications had Debbie feeling as if she was in a vortex. “Hold on, girl,” Debbie instructed herself softly. Regaining her equilibrium, she sighed deeply. Everything was so confusing. She was certain she could still taste the candy. Real or not, I have to remember what brand Hannah said they were…

they were succulent. Debbie was hungry.

“From the very first line of Hannahwhere, you know you’re in good hands. John McIlveen raises a compelling new voice with a story that is at once playful and frightening, thrilling and heartbreaking. Highly recommended.” ~Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author “Hannahwhere is everything a book should be—filled with unforgettable characters, fast-paced, and a page-turner. I loved it!” ~Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author “John McIlveen gets it. He gets that while scars heal, they’re scars forever, and sometimes, if the damage is deep enough, they always hurt.

McIlveen’s debut novel is a profoundly sensitive portrait of how traumatized children often need to exert control over some aspect of their own lives in order to cope with uncertainty and how bad life can get. But he understands that finding that measure of control doesn’t necessarily fix anything in the long term. Coping is not the same as thriving. And coping mechanisms extended into adulthood can leave self-sufficient, seemingly well-adjusted adults feeling as scared and vulnerable as they have always been.

One can draw clear lines from Hannahwhere to Richard Matheson, Andrew Vachss, and Charles de Lint. But McIlveen has his own voice and style. It’s not a crime novel, although there’s crime at the heart of it. It is not a purely sentimental offering either, though it has a ton of heart. While working in the neighborhood of “urban fantasy” he dispenses with magic and faerie and treats the subject matter with a sense of realism merely draped in fantasy.

And he does all this wonderfully, without feeling like any of it is getting short shrift. This is the real deal; a tremendously satisfying and well-realized first novel. John McIlveen gets it.” ~Bracken MacLeod, author of Closing Costs and Stranded “Love it, love it, LOVE IT!” ~Rick Hautala, bestselling author of The Demon’s Wife “Hannahwhere is a thrilling, emotionally complex paranormal mystery.

The little girls at the center of the story will touch your heart and unsettle you, all at the same time. A wonderful first novel from an exciting new voice in genre fiction.” ~Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Nightbirds “Hannahwhere is a revelation. This constantly surprising novel has some very dark moments, but John McIlveen’s clean, clear prose carries you through them and back into the light of the good, decent people who fuel this story with their desperate efforts to do the right thing.

Hannah herself is a joy. If she were up for adoption, I’d be the first in line.” ~F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author Praise for INFLICTIONS “A disturbing and thoroughly entertaining creep-fest. So much wicked fun.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 89e61ef500525ce9
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,177,323 bytes (2.076 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781949140682, 9781949140699
• Pages: 518
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 586.54 minutes
• Total Words: 117,308
• Total Characters: 674,245
• Average Words per Page: 226.46
• Average Characters per Page: 1301.63

Most Frequent Words

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