- Hardcover
- Publisher: Macmillan (1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0333714326
- ISBN-13: 978-0333714324
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 726 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
good book, but needs better story plotting,
By
This review is from: Skull Session (Paperback)
While I found it interesting that the main character had tourette's, it was a disappointment that the tourettes story really went nowhere. Another disappointment was the lack of storyline around the young female witness to the murders. She was an interesting character that was taken nowhere. The secondary main character was a horny police detective and his obsession with every female that crossed his path was an unnecessary distraction to the plot and frankly gave me the creeps about a character that was supposed to be a good guy. The girlfriend, ex-wife and son really added nothing to the storyline either. I found the plot involving the detective to be the most interesting and actually found myself frustrated when it went back to the main character who seemed to continually remember things from the past, that also added nothing to the plot. In my opinion, the author needed to fine tune the storyline and take out a whole lot of extraneous material that was boring. The main plot line was good, but too much other stuff was a distraction and dragged out the story.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good first novel from Hecht,
By Brian (Ireland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Skull Sessions (Hardcover)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting debut novel,
By
This review is from: Skull Session (Paperback)
Tautly written, with great character development, near-science fiction was fascinating projection. Main character has Tourette's Syndrome, which alone makes novel stand out. But when dark things start happening around an ancestral home, there come interesting Jungian twists and reflections.
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