The Dead Lands

by Rick Hautala

In a place Abby calls the Dead Lands, she aids individuals trapped by unfinished Earthly business and helps them move on.

Abby meets Megan McGowan there, a sixteen-year-old girl who fell to her death on the rocky shores of Mockingbird Bay. Megan can’t remember if it was an accident…or something worse. With the help of Jim Burke, a young man who becomes a close friend, Abbey works to discover how Megan became trapped in this empty place.

But Abby has other troubles -- her uncle, the Reverend George Wheeler, evil and vengeful, pursues her with his Hell Hounds through the twilight realms of the Dead Lands, waiting for her at every turn. Fortunately a mysterious protector helps her evade her uncle’s terrible revenge.

Who is this spirit protector? And will Abby ever gain release from this unchained prison?

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Ghosts

232 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

About the author

AKA A.J. Matthews

Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.

A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.

A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association.

Sadly, Rick died on March 21, 2013.

Reviews

[Susan Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a free copy of The Dead Lands by Rick Hautala recently. After finishing it all I can say is that I wish there were going to be a series, as planned, but Mr. Hautala has since passed away. The Dead Lands is an interesting take on life (such as it is) after death through the eyes of Abby, a young woman who is over one hundred years gone. Abby’s guess as to why she remains is that she is supposed to help those having a hard time crossing over to the next life. In particular, Abby helps a young girl, Megan, accept the facts of her murder. There is much pain in Abby’s history, which gives her empathy for others struggling to accept what life/death has dealt them. While Megan’s story has a very satisfying ending, the mystery of Abby’s past, especially what ties her to the current world, will never have resolution. The setting in Maine, with its rocky coast and changeable weather, adds to the haunting quality of the story. A nicely moody read overall.

[Christopher Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a place Abby calls the Dead Lands, she aids individuals trapped by unfinished Earthly business and helps them move on.

Abby meets Megan McGowan there, a sixteen-year-old girl who fell to her death on the rocky shores of Mockingbird Bay. Megan can’t remember if it was an accident…or something worse. With the help of Jim Burke, a young man who becomes a close friend, Abbey works to discover how Megan became trapped in this empty place.

But Abby has other troubles -- her uncle, the Reverend George Standley, evil and vengeful, pursues her with his Hell Hounds through the twilight realms of the Dead Lands, waiting for her at every turn. Fortunately a mysterious protector helps her evade her uncle’s terrible revenge.

Who is this spirit protector? And will Abby ever gain release from this unchained prison?

[Frank Errington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Copy

In March of 2012, Rick Hautala and Joe R. Lansdale were honored with Lifetime Achievement awards at the Bram Stoker banquet in Salt Lake City, an event I watched on Upstream. It was cool seeing Rick pick up his award, truly excited to be so honored and looking forward to continue doing what he loved to do. A year later, he died of a heart attack. That sucked. Fortunately for his legions of fans, Rick had been very productive that last year. And here we are, nearly a year later with a new Rick Hautala novel from the folks at JournalStone Publishing.

The Dead Lands- A Mocking Bird Bay Mystery is actually two tales woven into one delightful story. There's Abigail Cummings, dead these last hundred years, but not moved on. Instead she awakens from her slumber at the sound of the song of the mockingbird to help recently departed spirits come to terms with their own death. Why hasn't Abby moved on? Why is she constantly chased by her dead Uncle Wheeler and the hounds of Hell? In Abby's words, "When I was young, my friends and I used to frighten ouselves by telling ghost stories, now...I guess I am one."

The other story is about, ten year old, Megan McGowen who dies tragically. Was it an accident or was she murdered? Abby is there to help Megan learn the truth.

There are some great relationships here, particularly the one between Abby and Megan, as well as the dynamics in Megan's family.

The only downside to The Dead Lands - A Mockingbird Bay Mystery is in what might have been. It's quite evident that Abby was meant to return in future stories the next time she would hear the mockingbird sing, but sadly the mockingbird will sing no more.

The Dead Lands - A Mockingbird Bay Mystery is available now in Hardcover, Paperback and ebook fomats from JournalStone and from Amazon.com.

A totally enjoyable read and highly recommended for all ages.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: For 100 years, Abby walked the Dead Lands. Staying away from the Reverend and his malicious hell hounds. Only being raised from her grave when the mockingbird sings.

Trapped along the island of her shipwrecked death. Abby must wander the Dead Lands where her evil uncle, Reverend Wheeler, still haunts her from beyond the grave. Abby floats between the Dead Lands and the human world, helping those who are nearly departed. Wandering the land, not understanding why they have not yet passed on.

Feeling the magnetic pull once again, Abby rises to the aide of Megan McGowan. A sixteen year old girl, who mysteriously fell to her death off the rocky cliffs of Mockingbird Bay. Once Megan arrives things start to change, changing the course of Abby’s duties, while taking her on a murderous mystery. Leaving her to help discover the intents behind Megan’s death.

With Megan accepting the fact that she died, what she hasn’t accepted is the affect that her death plays on both her brother and mother. The real mystery that plagues her is a reality that she just can’t grasp, did she really fall or was she pushed off that cliff? Leaving her haunted to remember what truly happened to her that night. While Abby deals with a mystery of her own.

Cursed to forever run from the evil Reverend and his the hellhounds, Abby’s only solstice lies in that of a mysterious and faceless stranger. Yet, even stranger is the sudden new pull she feels to the human world and that of the teenage boy, Jim Burke. Intent on solving her own mystery, Abby must discover why this boy has come in possession of something so sentimental, that it will forever tie the stories of her past, to whomever holds the relic. Throwing Jim into the ghostly mystery that opens a new world between them, where the veil between the dead and the living is lifted.

As the book floats between the many paths that befall upon both the girls’ lives, it always winds back to the thoughts and memoires of Abby’s life. While following the many stages of their lives, it allows you put the pieces together, solving the questions that surround that fateful day.

The Dead Lands, is a memorable and enduring read. Captivating the true essence of wandering souls in a temporal plane. Even though Rick Hautala, passed away before the publishing, his imprint will be left on the hearts of those that read this book. Leaving, The Dead Lands, to forever impress its mark upon the young adult world.

you can find more of my reviews and giveaways in my newspaper column For the Love of Books-Dixon's Independent Voice, or the online newspaper: http://dixon.patch.com/blogs/for-the-... / and my horror book reviews in the magazine Dark Discoveries, www.hellnotes.com

[Grampy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by Lee Ashford for Readers' Favorite.

“The Dead Lands” by Rick Hautala is one more in a long string of top-notch Horror/Mystery stories by this author. Megan McGowan didn’t come home with her brother, Mike. Megan never came home again. Young Mike saw something, but his mind had buried it, because it was too awful to consider. Megan’s ghost is met by the ghost of Abby Cummings, who died more than a century earlier, but is still stuck in “The Dead Lands”, a kind of holding area where she has been waiting for something or someone to escort her to her final destination.

In the meantime, Abby has helped numerous other “stuck” ghosts to finish up whatever it is they’d left undone in life that was now holding them back from moving on. In “The Dead Lands” Abby had to help Megan figure out how and why she died, before she, Megan, could move on into the light. However, in order to do this she needed to find some way to communicate with the living, and to help Detective Gray solve the mystery.

“The Dead Lands” is hard to put down. It is a very captivating story that will entrance you right from the start. Rick Hautala was a master at character development. This story will wring you through the gamut of emotions, from sorrow to anger to blind rage.

Rick Hautala’s name will be remembered as one of the best in the Horror genre for one reason… he is. His writing has a magical aura to it, bringing the reader right into the thick of the action, to feel the horror alongside the characters in the story. If you can read only one story by Rick Hautala… you need to rearrange your schedule, so you can read them all.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, to say the least. Abby is trapped in the area between life and the finality of death, and does not know why. She helps others figure out why they are trapped in what is known as the Dead Lands, even though she herself cannot figure out what is going on with her passage. Abby’s uncle is evil through and through and pursues her even into the Dead Lands, and she only survives because of a mysterious protector. One thing I found disturbing is the fact that we never do know the answers to Abby’s questions about why she is trapped in the Dead Lands, and probably will never know. In this story, Abby helps Megan McGowan, who fell to her death at on the Mockingbird Bay, ME rocky shores. With the help of a friend, Abby and Megan figure out why she has stayed on in the Dead Land, so she can move forward. However, we never do find out Abby’s story or why she cannot leave the Dead Lands. The book was well written and had interesting and well-developed characters. However, this sort of mystery cum horror is generally not my choice reading, though I did enjoy this book. I thought the setting of Maine, with its rocky shores and sometimes turbulent weather was a good setting and lent some mystery and excitement to the story. Will I read more from this author? I am not sure at this point, though the reader who enjoys this type of mystery horror will definitely enjoy this book. I received this from Library Thing to read and review.

[Sahil Qaiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great novel about a girl lost in the deal lands. She is dead from 100 years and is yet to receive judgement (Means yet to be awarded with Hell Or Heaven). This ghost girl just wonders around the 'place around her grave' (which she calls The Dead Lands). She cant talk to anybody living and cant even touch anything. She is always wondering how can she stand on the earth and not just sink into it.
The Author has depicted her (after)life as a guide to other ghosts (recently died persons) helping them to finish their unfinished tasks. And in the Meantime is searching for her unfinished task in the world that is keeping her in the dead lands.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

so I'm not good at reviews, but anyways I received this book from a first read giveaway, and I was honestly surprised by it. its not the normal type of book I typically read, but it was awesome to find that I enjoyed it! it's sad the Rick Hautala passed away, and that we cant enjoy new books by him. but since I've never read anything by him, now I get to go through his others.

[Crystal M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I received from First Reads. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very straightforward and a quick read with a mystery that managed to keep my interest. I would read other books by this author.

[Elizabeth Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dead Lands is one of those " I couldn't put it down" books that I enjoy. Although I won my copy from Goodreads, I definitely would have purchased on my own. Rick Hautala effortlessly draws the reader in and leaves them wanting more. I'm looking forward to my next read by him.

[Victoria Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Dead Lands by Rick Hautala, an interesting take on the afterlife where Abby solves the murder of a young girl who can not move on.

[Larissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got the book as part of the giveaway. The premise was generally interesting, but the way it played out wasn't entirely believable. In short, there is a dead girl (Abby) who can't move on, and is trying to work out the reason for it. In the interim, she helps other dead people move on to the next stage. In this case, the person (Megan) she's helping was murdered.

So far, not so bad. However, in the living world, the police are ridiculously incompetent. For example, even though a child has been murdered, it never once occurs to the police to actually interrogate and investigate the family.

The family itself was oddly built. There's an implication of violent parents, but that never really plays out. The kid is afraid, but at no point is the son ever actually harmed. For example, there's a scene where he protects his backside with his hands, afraid of being beaten, but they never make a move to actually harm him. The fear is outright stated throughout the entire novel, but nothing ever comes of it, which makes it feel like a false threat.

There's also an odd romance between Abby and a living boy, which felt very strange and one-dimensional. The living boy falls madly, suicidally in love with her, despite them interacting for maybe ten minutes at a time, with four total interactions. I didn't find the infatuation believable, and his ridiculousness over it made me find the boy incredibly unlikable.

A lot of the characters in the book are like this, which makes it hard to much care about any of them outside of Abby, the main narrator. Outside of the obvious sadness of a kid being murdered, there's no particular reason to like Megan, and the friendship is more one of circumstances than actual genuine interest and companionship. Abby points out that she thinks Megan is a liar (which she is), and you don't really see much more of who Megan is. She seems like she was a typical kid who got into some unfortunate circumstances. And now she lies about it until it gets resolved. The motive for those circumstances becomes pretty apparent, but there's no real reason for how she ended up getting murdered, how it was done, or any tension building really.

Outside of Megan's murderer, there's one other antagonist, and he's literally described as being evil. Even after being around, in some fashion, for an approximate 100 years, Abby doesn't know anything about him other than that he's a bad man who works for Satan. Why Satan would give two shits about Abby is never explained, and it's hard to really find anything terrifying or, alternatively, redeemable, about a character who's evil because he is. It's not interesting.

And this isn't the author's fault, but the formatting of the book was terrible. There would be new segments started, but the indicator at the bottom of the page and easily overlooked, so it made no sense why the scene changed. Missing paragraph indentations. And in some cases, the pictures were placed so as to give away the content of the story. In one instance, he was clearly building up a scene over two pages, and all the tension was killed, because there was a picture showing the answer smack dab in the middle of it. Disappointing, but not his fault.

I read to the end because I was interested in how things would play out, but the twist is pretty obvious, and I figured it out early on. I was hoping for some resolution on some of the other issues brought up, but it appears to have been poised for a sequel instead. I'm not sure how that will play out with Mr. Hautala's passing, so if you hate cliffhangers, maybe not so much for you. Not a terrible book, but enough lacking that it's hardly a must-read.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this ebook through Early Reviewers (at LibraryThing) and just finished it last night. It was a mix of murder mystery and ghost story and had a sad and haunting quality that fit the book's theme. I found it to be a quick read and I wanted to keep turning the pages to see what would happen next.

The book has an interesting take on a sort of Purgatory called The Dead Lands, in which souls need to accept their death and resolve any issues that are holding them back from their final destination. There are Reapers who take the souls onward to a place of light or shadows and a dead girl named Abby who has existed in the small cemetary since her death in a shipwreck over 100 years before. She lies in a sort of dead-sleep until she hears a mockingbird singing and then finds herself awake as a ghost. For reasons she doesn't understand, Abby has not moved on and instead she tries to help those who are newly dead and confused. The story begins when she hears a mockingbird and discovers Megan, a girl newly dead, who is similar in age to herself.

Abby realizes that Megan can't move on until she accepts that she was murdered and together they work to discover the identity of her killer and a way to find justice for her death. Along the way Abby must avoid her uncle, who was also killed in the same shipwreck, and who has become an evil and threatening entity who hunts her every night with his Hell Hounds but is unable to enter the little cemetary in which Abby is buried. Abby is also drawn to a boy who purchases a locket that used to belong to her and holds a mysterious key and a lock of her hair.

I found the book to be quite sad, both for Megan who has to deal with being killed at such a young age, and also for Abby who is unable to move on and doesn't know why. The description of the Reapers and of her uncle are creepy and mysterious. Clearly this was intended to become the first book in a series, but the author has since passed away, so unfortunately a lot of questions that are raised in this book about Abby will never be answered. Her memories of the past are interesting, although quite sad as well. I would've liked to have read more about her and what the locket and key meant to her and why it was keeping her trapped.

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy from LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Take a mystery, add a ghost into it, tack on a murder and you have the makings of an excellent book.
Abby is a ghost who lives in a cemetery in the Dead Lands. She’s been dead for over 100 years. She’s not sure why, unlike the many that she helps, she’s been unable to move on. She sleeps until she hears a mockingbird sing, which signals that someone needs her help. This time it is Meagan who has shown up. Abby quickly whisks her into the cemetery. Why? Abby’s uncle George Wheeler, who was once a pastor chases Abby along with his Hell Hounds. He’s determined to get her to come to his side of things. Abby must help Meagan find out who murdered her and help her get justice. She must do this all without being caught by her uncle. Abby has a protector who quickly comes to her aid. She doesn’t know who he is or when he will show up but he does. There is a second story line that flows through this story. Jim Burke purchased a locket that used to belong to Abby. Inside the locket is a strand of hair and a key. He was originally going to buy it for his mother because she like it, but decided to keep it because he feels strangely drawn to it. This connection is what allows him to see Abby, something no other living being has been able to accomplish. We are left at the end of the book with Meagan’s mystery solved, but not Abby’s. This is a great set up for a second book. It can be read as a stand-alone book.

When I went in search of this author who was new to me, I was saddened to learn he had died of a heart attack in 2013. I love his book and would have gladly read the entire series. It was so good that it only took me a couple of hours to read it. Now we will never have the answers to the questions we had at the end of the book about Abby and her uncle. I will recommend this to all of my students. It is one of the best I’ve read in a long time.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book for free through Goodread First Reads program, and I am glad that I got the chance to read it.

The Dead Lands by Rick Hautala is about a girl named Abby who has been dead for over a hundred years. Even though most people who die go to the beyond fairly soon after their death, she has remained and she has no idea why. However, she often helps other people find what they need to do to move on. When Megan McGowan shows up, she is first not willing to tell Abby anything that happened, but Abby is determined to find out. Throughout the novel, Abby and Megan try to find out the truth about what happened to her and what they can do about it.

Overall, this is a pretty good book. Abby is related and I liked to read about her past. I felt sorry for her, especially when it came to her uncle. Poor Abby is being tormented by her uncle even after death. Her emotions seem real and she is a kind girl who cares about others and helping them.

I also found the mysteries in the book to be intriguing. I wanted to know why Abby was staying behind when so many others got to move on. I also wanted to know why her uncle hated her so much and what was going to be done about that. I'm not going to say which of these mysteries if any of them were resolved and you will have to read the book to find out.

What I didn't like so much was I figured out the main mystery right away. I figured it could only be one of two people, and I was right. There are also some inconsistencies in the book. At one point, it says that Abby was born after the American Civil War, but then later it says that her family didn't have any slaves and she always felt sorry for them or something like that. There are also little things like that, too.

I give this book three stars out of five.

[Alison C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The Dead Lands, by Rick Hautala, tells the story of Abby, a 16-year-old girl who died well over 100 years ago. Every now and then, a mockingbird sings by her grave and Abby "wakes up" into what she calls the Dead Lands, a sort of ghostly region between the living world and the true afterlife. Generally she finds a newly dead soul who needs her help to resolve a problem and move on to the next world; in this story, she finds Megan, a young girl who dies after falling, or jumping, from a cliff overlooking the Atlantic - or was she, instead, pushed? It is up to Abby to help Megan find out, and maybe in helping her to resolve that mystery, Abby will find clues as to why she herself never seems able to move on, out of the Dead Lands and into another place.... The subtitle of this book is "A Mockingbird Bay Mystery," suggesting the first book in a projected series; sadly, Mr. Hautala died in 2013, and I believe this was his final book. Unfortunately, it's not a great legacy to leave: I had the impression that the book needed at least one more draft and some more careful editing before it should have been published. There is a lot of sloppy writing here, for example confusion as to which of Megan's two sneakers fell off in her flight prior to death, an important plot point that should have been more consistent throughout. In addition, a ghost of a young girl who died in the 1870s is not likely to say things like "no way!" even if she has been trying to keep up with changes in the way the living speak. More importantly, the motive given for the murder ("you did it for the money!") is not explained - what money? It's a shame because I've liked Hautala's work in the past, but this foray into the YA market just doesn't work.

[Ed Gosney · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Rick Hautala’s novel “The Dead Lands,” (JournalStone) Abby Cummings died in the nineteenth century but her soul still lingers around the graveyard where she is buried. She sees the Reapers take other souls away, but for some reason, hers remains trapped. Abby’s uncle also died when she did, and he continues to try to take her away, but she resists, because though he was a preacher in life, in death he serves a dark master.

But Abby’s existence isn’t without meaning, as teenager Megan McGowan finds herself in the Dead Lands, and doesn’t understand where she is or how she got there, and Abby helps her learn that she is dead. There is a mystery behind Megan’s death, and Abby wants to help her solve it so that Megan can find peace and be taken by the Reapers.

While the story is enjoyable, there seemed to be a lot of repeating of the same information, and I felt like not that much really went on. I didn’t mind reading it, but I felt this could have been done better.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers. The Dead Lands is about Abby who in the Dead Lands and helps people who have unfinished business on Earth. Abby meets Meagan and tries to help her. Meagan is not sure if her death was an accident, or something much worse. The Abby's Evil Uncle George Wheeler chases her with his Hell Hounds. Then a mysterious protector comes to Abby's aid.

I found this book diffiuclt to put down. It was scary and suspenseful. I thought this book had an interesting take on the afterlife.