Decimate

At the start of this gripping if uneven supernatural thriller from bestseller Rice (A Density of Souls), two children, 12-year-old Claire Huntley and her 10-year-old brother, Poe, are hiking in the wilds of Montana when they're struck by a mysterious violent force that leaves them with little memory of what happened. Their father suspects they were the victims of an alien abduction. Fourteen years later, Claire, now a history teacher in the Pacific Northwest, is preparing to meet Poe, who's been emotionally troubled since the incident, at the airport. Then she receives a psychic message from Poe shortly before his plane crashes. Meanwhile, Randy Drummond and a team of ex-military men are monitoring the Huntleys along with a strange phenomenon related to the afterlife. Claire and Randy--aided by the not-quite-dead souls of Poe and Randy's lover--wind up going after a demented outcast who wants to take revenge on everyone who's ever abused him. Sharp dialogue and vivid characters make up only in part for the clichéd revelation about what's really going on and the cop-out conclusion. Rice has done better. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (May)

Rice puts a wicked spin on near-death experiences. While camping with their father in Glacier National Park, Claire Huntley follows her younger brother, Poe, into the woods, where they're attacked by an unknown force that changes their lives. The authorities say they've been attacked by a bear, but her father's claim that it was aliens ruins his marriage and separates Claire, who stays with her mom, from Poe, who lives with his father. Years later, when Claire's a teacher in California and Poe's an artist and drug addict in New York, Poe's plane crashes on a trip to visit his sister, and their mystical connection is dramatized when she feels his pain. Back at the crash site, Vernon Starnes, a deeply disturbed man who's living in a nearby shack, investigates and discovers a seat covered in a blue shimmer that takes over his body, changing him into a powerful, dangerous killer. Thus begins a tale of coverups, government agents, private muscle, and a Nazi past hidden in Montana. Even in death Poe continues to communicate with Claire in different ways, calling her and Margot Hastings, their father's ex-girlfriend, to travel to Montana to see him. There, they meet Randy Drummond and his friends, keepers of years' worth of harrowing secrets that are slowly revealed as Claire and Poe work with them to contain a global threat. An adventurous, provocative story that would have been enhanced by judicious pruning. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.