The War of the Whisperers: A Southwestern Supernatural Thriller (a Novel in the Shaman Cycle)

In Niswander's less-than-suspenseful fourth Shaman Cycle novel (after The Hound Hunters), intermediaries called the Whisperers control human puppets in order to manipulate events and maximize the human suffering that feeds the Great Old Ones. Their prime tool is Jason Trehearne, the leader of the Army of the Dream, an outfit in Arizona that recreates WWII battles, but whose very real arsenal suggests a more immediate agenda: Trehearne, a Hitler-worshipper, wants to provoke a violent confrontation by disguising his agents as feds, and getting them to gun down a member of the antiauthoritarian Freeman community. Meanwhile, Tom Bear, a witch, and Kade Wonto, a medicine man from Maricopa County, join in the official investigation into an epidemic of disappearances. While Niswander writes well, with a gift for characters, a lack of genuine chills may disappoint readers expecting a more Lovecraftian horror story.