The Eidola Project

Robert
Herold
Genre: 
Paranormal

MYSTERY/HISTORICAL/HORROR:  Nine-year-old Sarah Bradbury was an ordinary girl who discovers she has the ability to communicate with the dead. Her parents see an opportunity to make money out of her gift and sell her to a passing carnival owner. Sarah spends the next eight years as a performer providing fake readings, but her abilities soon earn her a reputation as a genuine medium. When the carnival owner attempts to rape her, she runs away and seeks out Professor James who is researching paranormal abilities. The Eidola Project is formed with a mission to debunk fake mediums and discover people who genuinely possess unusual abilities. Edgar Gilpin is able to foretell the future and is recruited into the Project. The Eidola team embarks on an assignment to rid a house haunted by ghosts, which results in a surprising revelation for everybody.

With “The Eidola Project”, Robert Harold presents readers with a well-written foray into the world of the supernatural and the country under post-civil war influence. It will take readers some time to recognize the actual period in history, as the author provides scant information and background. The novel races along, relying on very good dialogue to carry the story, but this is done at the expense of characterization. Having identified with Sarah, the story is taken over by Edgar Gilpin, and readers are forced to identify with him, as Sarah becomes a secondary character. Some readers will find the ending strays too far into fantasy, but “The Eidola Project” is still a very entertaining read.

Paul Brennan