Reviewed by Nino Lobiladze for Readers' Favorite

Clay Redding is an aspiring photographer working for the Portland police on crime scenes. He preferred a highly advanced QIS camera over a college education for he couldn't imagine himself living the dull, predictable life his parents used to live. Clay wanted adventures and challenges, and he got what he desired. Clay heard a voice calling his name in a coal cellar where he was taking pictures with his QIS camera. Clay discovered that his camera took pictures of past events and the portrait of a mysterious man. Soon after, beautiful Lane Cunningham from The Spotlight, an outlet exposing corruption and social injustice, asked him to take pictures of Martin Ratliffe, a big Portland property developer eager to rebuild the historical part of the city. Lane suspects dirty games between him and a city council member, Alice Armstrong. Clay meets the man from the picture in an abandoned church to learn about the other reality, where dead people, or Polters, consider living ones a myth. Clay gets threats from Ratliffe and invitations from Pericles, the Polter, to Bardonia, a town across the river destroying memory. Worlds of the living and the dead meet in Polters by William X. Adams, the first installment in the series.

Polters is captivating from the very first page. William X. Adams introduces a likable protagonist, Clay Redding, who is full of life yet desires to explore the world of the dead. I appreciated very much the short, straight-to-the-point chapters and the amazing writing style sprinkled with occasional dark humor. Adams thoroughly explains the complicated other reality, making it almost realistic to his readers. The town of Bardonia is surreal, like something we could see in our dreams. Adams' philosophy behind the concept of Bardonia, Rindi Station, a midnight ferry across the river that helps us get rid of the burden of our memory, is unique and very interesting. William X. Adams introduced this different world step by step without tiring his readers with the overwhelming flow of information. I appreciated the adventurous aspect of Polters very much, thanks to the many engaging twists and turns of the plotline. Clay and Lane's love story is beautiful and unpredictable. Adams describes corruption, avoiding any cliché. Overall, Polters is an action-packed and very fast-paced read suitable for fans of thrillers, crime drama, sci-fi, and romance with an element of the supernatural.