This is an interesting book on many levels, and had me hooked from the first page and, as much as it may seem that this would be an automatic 5 thumbs review, there were parts of this novel that pulled it down to a 4 thumbs rating.The main protagonist suffers from Tourette’s syndrome which in itself is an unusual choice of malady to use in a protagonist. However, it works well with the subject matter of the book and, through the struggles the main lead has with his condition the reader learns a great deal about this illness; and this is where the book lost its 5 thumbs, at times there is so much neurological information it slows the narrative down, and that really affects the novel overall, but it did make me wonder if the Author had not had personal experience in some way of Tourette’s. Back to the main character; it is safe to say that this man has his plate full dealing not only with his own problems but those of his son who also has issues, what kind I am not saying as it would spoil the experience of reading the book. The reader is often taken inside the mind of the main character and is able to experience the world he lives in and the events that happen to him through his eyes. This serves to make him a very real person with great depth and, at times, it feels as if the reader is right there with him in this world.When I first started reading this I assumed it was going to be a purely neurological thriller, and was quite happy to accept this; as I soon found out I was totally wrong. With a skilful hand the Author turns this book into a cross-genre novel covering everything from horror to supernatural urban fantasy with stops at the psychological and medical arenas along the way. It may sound that this leads to what is a very disjointed read, but each of the genres are woven seamlessly together making this an easy, if not very fast paced, read. For the die-hard horror fan out there, the ‘scary’ portions of this book may seem a little tame, but with everything that this book has going for it, it really doesn’t matter in my opinion.I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good thriller/mystery, and I will be reading more by this Author.Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/05/15... This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
De hoofdpersoon van deze roman is Paul Skoglund, lijder aan het syndroom van Gilles de la Tourette. De medicijnen die Paul hiervoor slikt maken zijn ziekte behapbaar, maar ondanks dat is het voor hem onmogelijk zijn beroep van leraar uit te oefenen. Paul woont samen met zijn vriendin Lia. Hij is eerder getrouwd geweest, en deelt met zijn ex de zorg voor hun zoon Mark. Tenminste, voor zolang het nog duurt want zij vindt dat Paul een slechte invloed op de eveneens met neurologische problemen kampende Mark heeft. En dan ook nog eens geen baan, dus hoe kan hij de jongen nou de zorg geven die die nodig heeft? Het lijkt daarom een geschenk uit de hemel dat zijn tante hem vraagt haar landhuis (Highwood) op te knappen dat door vandalen totaal verwoest is. Als Paul aan de gang gaat in het huis, ontdekt hij dat de schade vrijwel onmogelijk door gewone vandalen kan zijn veroorzaakt.Mo Ford is een politieman die niet altijd volgens het boekje werkt. Dat heeft hem al eerder in de problemen gebracht en hem een overplaatsing opgeleverd. In zijn nieuwe district bestaat zijn werk uit het oplossen van een aantal verslofte zaken. Het gaat om een bizar verkeersongeluk en een aantal verdwenen tieners. Zijn speurwerk brengt hem bij Highwood, het huis waar Paul de boel aan het opknappen is.Wat is precies in Highwood gebeurd?Best een lekker boek hoor, maar veel te vaak slaat Hecht eindeloze zijpaden in. Bovendien wil hij dat alles tot in de kleinste details klopt. En dat haalt de vaart erg uit het verhaal. Het einde is overigens bijzonder en verrassend, dat maakt veel goed.Naar het Nederlands vertaald door Robert Vernooy als Geestdrift
What do You think about Skull Session (2005)?
Really love this book. Aside from the all to real effects of medication, I also read is a metaphor, of growing and allowing ourselves to become what we potentially can, and ignore any constraints/bounds that were somehow "learned", internalised, either through parents or simply the society and the general expectations.Of course it is a compelling idea we could be stronger than we mentally expect; or otherwise: the strength we mentally assign to ourselves could also be a limiting factor. Maybe we are stronger/smarter/... beyond our own (other peoples?) expectations.
—Nathan
Eh - not so much... I loved the Cree Black series and so picked this up on Audible for the ride to work. I really liked the characters and the whole build up to the climax was fabulous -- but, I found the end to be just ridiculous. Hecht spends A LOT of time going into long, specific details of certain medical conditions setting the reader up for the skepticism that will occur ... however, on me, it didn't work. It seemed overly melodramatic and a little bit B-grade monster movie-ish, which was a disappointment since the entire rest of the book really is quite good. Ah well, to each his own.
—Cheryl
Very interesting use of Tourettes as a characteristic that is helpful to a protagonist. While the end is a little gory for my taste, the plot twist is fairly satisfying and the ending is good, not a downer, though def a few sad parts. Themes discussed are mental illness, loneliness, parenting, marriage, love, and family dynamics and secrets.A few moments that caught me for guard and good writing carried the story along--the villain was not who I expected, and the revelations come rapid fire in the last section. Worth a read, though def a few parts towards the final conflict that aren't for the squeamish, and since Im not a fan of that I couldn't give it full marks.
—Seth Pierce
