The Reckoning: A Thriller (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
First of all, I recommend this book to any reader of horror that wants something beyond what you can find at the grocery store. There aren't a whole lot of answers here, but this one of of the creepiest ghost stories I've ever read. It is a very cerebral type of horror novel rather -- not like most of what is on the horror shelves these days.In the acknowledgments section of his book, the author begins by saying "The Reckoning takes history for its haunted house." And indeed it does. The story begins as Molly Drake, a young photojournalist who has made it into the big leagues and is working for the NY Times, arrives in Cambodia to do a story about a group of US military personnel who are trying to find any remains of a pilot shot down during the war with Vietnam. Among the group is a veteran, John Kleat, looking for his dead brother; an archaeologist, Duncan O'Brian; Samnang, hired by the American recovery team to run the dig, and who also went around collecting indigenous folk songs when he wasn't digging; and a person they call the Gypsy Man, who hides out in the shadows watching the group dig. Molly is there to take pictures, however, when she discovers a flight helmet buried under the bones of victims of the Killing Fields, the military takes her and all civilians off of the excavation. Just when Molly is ready to admit her mission is over before it starts, and just before returning home to New York, she is met in a restaurant along with John Kleat and Duncan by the Gypsy Man, whose name turns out to be Lucas Yale. He tells them of a mysterious place he can take them where they will find remains of US soldiers, and offers proof in the form of several dog tags. I can't reveal much more without giving away the show - suffice it to say that it will hold your interest and keep you reading for a few hours.Recommended
The Reckoning is kind of a weird, modern day Vietnam-related fever dream. It has trouble getting started, picks up through the middle and free-falls through the ending, which, hard as it tries to be a twist, just weakens the whole story. The untwisted plot revolves around people searching out the bones of MIAs for retrieval to the homeland, a gruesome and grueling task that they know they'll never fully complete. This particular group is unsanctioned and comprised of temporarily semi-aligning interests: a man searching for his brother's bones, a photojournalist with a major need to prove herself and an enigmatic adventurist/archaeologist/American-who-conveniently-speaks-Khmer.Things turn weird when they and their escort of locals happen upon an ancient, lost city in the Cambodian jungle in pursuit of a lost company of soldiers. To take it much further than that would be to give something away, so I won't, but I'll say these three things:- As with many weird stories, it's at its best before it's understood.- There's a leech thing that happens again and again, which might be a metaphor for something I'm just too dense to pick up on.- The lost city steals the show and is worth the price of admission. It's absolutely fantastic.Fans of Jeff Long (including me, ever since I read The Descent) will get enough of that archaeological buzz on, but if this comes across as a little disappointed, it's that there isn't much more to The Reckoning than that. It's obvious Long quite wanted more, which is a shame. If the knockout blow hadn't been so glancing, it probably would have been something to behold.
What do You think about The Reckoning: A Thriller (2005)?
I'm a huge fan of Jeff Long's The Descent. But this novel doesn't compare, though I guess I shouldn't have had pre-expectations.The story is interesting and the writing is great. However, the characters are molded from stereotypes, and the action takes a while to kick in.Ultimately, it felt like a book that was written to sell. Its repetitive, and a number of the chapters stretch on without going anywhere.I will give Mr. Long a pass in that he doesn't skip on a transcendent ending. But still, I wouldn't reread this one.
—Gavin Boone
My 2nd Jeff Long novel. I enjoyed "The Wall," so rapidly put this one on my reading list, and enjoyed it even more. This time I found the ending satisfying, if a bit abrupt. Again a variation on the ghost story. Again with an interesting setting and strong sense of place. This time in Cambodia, with echoes of the Viet Nam war. As the story progresses, the protagonist leaves her own world further and further behind, going deeper and deeper into the jungle, and as this happens, you become less and
—Jeff
