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Title: Skull Session by Daniel Hecht ISBN: 0-670-87661-5 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (42 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: schicka-schicka-schicka
Comment: This is half a psychological thriller, and half science fiction (I hope). I think Hecht convincingly and empathetically describes the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome (behavoral tics) in the hero--a seemingly unfocused and mild guy who has inexplicably attracted an exciting woman--but Hecht seems to forget those habits through the midparts of the story. Meanwhile, as the police find dismembered bodies, the hero's relatives become increasingly strange and ominous, ending in a fascinating neurological nightmare of the Terminator ilk. I don't usually read horror stories, but a supernatural undertone gradually emerges and certainly tingled my spine. And the explanation for those "schicka" sounds that recur: horrifyingly clever, and completely logical (as is the villain), but it surprised me. Wow! Tremendously effective story, although the prose of this first novel is somewhat thick and sometimes wooden. I'll look for his next book.
Rating: 4
Summary: An absorbing, gripping and disturbing book.
Comment: I was totally absorbed by this book and found it difficult to put down. However, I did not learn too much about Tourette's than I already knew (which was not much). As a romance, a detective story and a thriller the book cannot be faulted. It was a fascinating read, but it left me unsettled - maybe that was the author's intention. The basic premise of the disturbance of mind of the book's villian I find very hard to believe. I couldn't buy it. The final scenes were just too fantastic for believability. As for entertainment, it was a good book and I would read more by this author. He has a very good writing style.
Rating: 3
Summary: A good first novel from Hecht
Comment: This book is a part medical part psychological thriller. The main character Paul Skoglund is an out of work carpenter who suffers from mild Tourettes syndrome. When his reclusive Aunt Vivien offers him work, to fix up her isolated mansion, he readily agrees despite her difficult reputation. When he gets there a mystery is revealed, he realises that the extreme damage to the house was likely caused by a human, yet he can find no explanation how a human could have had such strength. About this time, he decides to stop using his medication. The mystery deepens when he meets his aunt, and her interest and knowledge concerning his neurological condition puzzles him. Then there is the mysterious suicide of his father years before, and revealed is his familial history of neurological disorder. As he works on the house, the plot draws in a detective who is investigating a series of unexplained gruesome murders and dissapearances in the area (The detectives character is very well drawn in places - i really admired the part where he expresses suffering (being a recently divorced bachelor) at having to visit famillies homes and interview the pretty wives), a local thug/cop who wants Paul to leave, and the sociopathic son of Vivien, his cousin Royce. As Paul reads Viviens scattered letters and documents which he finds in the house, he finds that his painful past is becoming ever more revealed. Then there is his vicious ex wife and his son, who inherited his head problems. Finally the tale becomes almost paranormal as the true cause of the disturbances at the mansion are laid bare, and a terrifying confrontation looms.
Up until the last hundred pages, the novel was doing very well indeed. However i think the author hasnt sufficiently exploited the pain of the main character which he probably should have, in order for us to be able to sympathise with him more. Also the character of his girlfriend is badly drawn, she comes across as a pretty air head. The schizophrenic girl was my favourite character, i would have liken to seen more of her. The detective was interesting for a while, but again his character sort of plods along in the middle end part of the book. And what happens to the detective was well, dissapointing in the extreme, here we have a character who gets nearly as much pages as the main one, who ends like that? Yes it is the ending of the book that lets it down the most. Sure the descriptions of the final encounter were thrilling, but also anti-climactic in some way, as though not all loose ends have been sewn up. And the very end of the book, where there is a CIA involvement was very unsatisfactory, a story where the hero ends up nearly a guinea pig! But id recommend it overall for those who enjoy a good medical thriller.
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Title: The Babel Effect by Daniel Hecht ISBN: 0609607294 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 19 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: City of Masks : A Cree Black Thriller by Daniel Hecht ISBN: 1582343411 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 08 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Land of Echoes : A Cree Black Novel by Daniel Hecht ISBN: 1582343934 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 21 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant ISBN: 1400060737 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 17 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Narrows: A Novel by Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316155306 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 03 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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