somehow i was very much reminded of stephen king when reading maxim. however: M is not so inventive or great at descriptions, BUT: Maxim has a great sense of keeping to the relevant, and a great wy with explanations. have you ever wondered why the hero ignore something you wouldn't have, or does not choose option B? Maxim tells you why. he is truly great at not leaving loose ends like that. here, everything is considered. the story is about a station where some force is brooding, trying to escape. one man turns out to be able to see the dead, and a medium that deals with them knows his help is needed. violence occur connected to the station. and there are some details about the dead i won't give away. this was interesting, and i loved the explanations, and the fact that most things turned out to be relevant. not much of the irrelevant nonsens, like a romance having nothing to do with the story, etc. but all in all, this was not great. the story is actually pretty mediocre, developed in a mediocre way. M is not great at descriptions. somehow, i was not completely satisfied.

written long before The Sixth Sense, Maxim's novel takes us into the world of the paranormal; in his plot, dead people are still visible to the living world, at least to those who have the sensory perception to see them. These spirits cry for release from being caught between two worlds as a result of an electric train accident....three of them have happened in different parts of the world.

Maxim's hero, Peter Halloran is just an ordinary man, living in Riverside, CT (Fairfield?), lamenting the status of a marriage gone loveless. On the day of the train disaster, he is late and misses the train, narrowly escaping death. Later, he becomes aware that he can see the dead commuters, trapped in the spirit world, and giving off a kinetic energy that is trapping and destroying the townspeople. At first he disbelieves his powers; then he gets drawn into the larger world of psychic phenomena, and the attempt to "help the victims over" when he meets Jennifer Wilde, a famous psychic. The character of Jennifer is perhaps the best drawn element of the novel. She travels with a strange entourage: her assistant, Alex, who supplies the killing force when victims of the energy field begin to commit criminal acts, Mordicai Bloomer, another psychic nursing an unrequited love for Jennifer, and Lictor, her contact IN the spirit world.

In a tense and scary drama, Maxim weaves these characters in and out of trouble while they try to resolve the dilemma of the station and save those who are trapped. There are some horrible secondary characters, such as Peter's wife, Barbara,but, all in all, Maxim tells a satisfying tale.

It was my first Maxim novel, and I'm encouraged to read the Bannerman books, based on how much I enjoyed this story.

This book, as most Maxim works do, starts ordinarily enough. Pete Halloran is an ordinary guy who undergoes an extraordinary accident in a train station. The resulting trauma leaves the ability to see AND communicate with dead people!! From there this book goes on to stand everything us mere mortals have, heretofore, ascribed to the question of life after death on it's head. This book challenges the reader to expand their thinking. It has smooth, flowing prose. It has a pace that will be familiar to veteran Maxim readers. It is, quite simply put, a terrific book and I would strongly recommend it.

When some of my favorite writers start getting into their sixth or better book I have found sometimes a formula, or a pattern to their novels. This usually turns me off of the writer. In John R. Maxim's case he is the Energizer Bunny of mystery novels, he keeps on going and going. The themes may be somewhat the same in his books, which is fine, but you're never quite sure about the ending.

Other people reviewing this book call the second half "slow". I must disagree. It all seemed to tie the ends of the book together nicely. Maybe it did not have the flash-bang finish of a Haven or a to-be-continued of the Bannerman series; but it was very essential to bringing everything together.

In the case of this book I felt there really was no clear cut lead character, everyone was responsible for holding up an important end to the story. I enjoyed that aspect tremendously, it was very creative writing. To sum it up; Mr Maxim never ceases to amaze me how he can pull these stories out of his mind and get them down in writing. I quite honestly believe that maybe he is a true Mosaic himself, and each of his "friends" writes a different novel.

While lying back and reading this book I could not help but think that Raymond Lesko would have fit nicely into this storyline :)

Like Haven and The Shadowbox, Maxim starts the action fast and increases it with every chapter. Starting with a fascinating and unusual premise, an experiment with Multiple Personality Disorders by the government, Maxim builds the suspense and adds thrills at every turn. Only the last couple of chapters disappoint, as the whole plot line is concluded rather abruptly. Maxim's writing is always rather minimalist, but this ending was too rushed. All in all a very, very entertaining read, and you may learn a thing or two in the bargain. Maxim has established himself as a premier thriller author.

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As usual, John R. Maxim delivers again with Mosaic! I take issue with a reviewer who claims this book is riddled with inaccuracies concerning MPD. To get information on ANY subject, I read non-fiction, not fiction. I read fiction for just what John R. Maxim delivers every time - FUN - suspense - escape. He can be relied upon to take me away from the office and home for the time it takes to read his books, and I treasure every minute. He is an amazing writer and it excites and thrills me to begin each of his novels. I loved Mosaic and suggest you read the review from Massachusetts May 26, 1999 because, if I could write that good its what I would say.

Maybe its just me, but I just could not buy into the premise of this one. There were times I literally laughed out loud, and not because of a humorous passage, but that the scenario teetered on the brink of the ridiculous. I read MOSAIC and thought that was pretty good, but ABEL BAKER CHARLEY just didn't do it for me. I'm no stranger to psychological thrillers, and I can accept some pretty bizarre premises, but I think Mr. Maxim...I don't know what he was thinking with this. I have never felt so, well, insulted after finishing a book. I only give it a star because Maxim is not some hack and at least some effort was put into the building of suspense. I stuck with it in the hopes that I would have some moment of understanding, or at least acceptance, at the end, but I was sadly disappointed. If you are a Maxim fan, do yourself a favor and pass on this one.

In this novel Maxim operates on the assumption that since the human brain is compartmentalized, each individual can become several personas sharing the same body. Therefore each is a totally separate individual. This is different than a split personality in which each personality is really a part of the total person.

The other assumption is that genes can inherit memories from ancestors and thus if someone in an individual's past was a concert pianist, the memory is there in the individual's genes. Thus that individual can become a concert pianist.

A doctor who specializes in creating new personalities for people, takes advantage of this theory and is able to transform individuals into totally new individuals.

These theories are very interesting and are the only thing that keeps this book together. The book itself is a mismosh of activities and events. The author's descriptions often lack clarity where it is very difficult to picture what is happening and it is very difficult to follow the supporting characters. Some seem to appear out of the blue and it seems that the author assumes you know something about them.

A lot of what happens is implausible and some of the ideas seem to be copied from the old tv series The Incredible Hulk. (meek David Banner would turn into a super strong monster when he was enraged).

Maxim wrote a much better book dealing with the mind called "Time Out of Mind."

I have never missed a chance to read a "Maxim" book and Able Baker Charley does not disappoint. As with all Maxim books the unique plots and marvelous characters not only entertain and fascinate the author has made them so just plain likable that I find myself turning pages as quickly as possible to continue the adventure! ABC can take its place along side the rest of Maxim books as a "can't put down". If you have never read a Maxim grab one fast. The good news is that you are going to really love these books. If you have something else you need to be doing the bad news is you are going to really love these books!