In the Long Island village of Monroe, Dr. Alan Bulger is an old-fashioned family practitioner who sees his patients as people, not diseases. When a dying bum takes his hand, suddenly Dr. Bulger can heal with a touch. But this gift comes with a terrible price.

Listed as part of the Adversary Cycle, this definitely ties in to the larger story Wilson is telling, although it contains nothing explicitly about the Otherness. It would stand alone quite well. ( )

Once you pick up this book, you won't be able to put it down. The action starts at the beginning and doesn't let up. If you're interested in supernatural fiction, this one is a good one.

small peekie re what's inside:
Doctor Alan Bulmer is a family physician; he is not a doctor who enjoys ripping off his patients, but he is a doctor who has chosen his profession to actually do some good. He lives with his wife Virginia (Ginny) and has a seemingly normal life until one day when he sees a vagrant man in the emergency room who says something very strange to him then begs Alan to take his hand. Alan feels some kind of charge going from hand to hand; and then afterward, he finds that at certain times, he is able to completely heal people. The servant of a friend of his tells him that he has what is called the Dat-Tay-Vao, "the touch," which in fact will allow him the gift of healing, but which takes a terrible payment in return.

The book is an easy one, and you'll fly through it. You won't find a lot of guts and gore but it is a very good supernatural-type fiction. ( )

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