|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
I don't like most mysteries with woo-woo; I'll say that right up front. I picked up Hecht's book because it was billed as a literary mystery, not for its paranormal content, and I almost put it down when I found that it was a ghost story. Now that I've finished the book, though, I find that I've become the newest member of Daniel Hecht's fan club. This is the second in Hecht's series about a clinical psychologist, parapsychologist and empath named Cree Black, following his well-received CITY OF MASKS. This time we find Cree in Albuquerque, speaking at a professional conference. After her talk, she is ambushed by her mentor, the unlikable Mason Ambrose, and asked to investigate a case of what appears to be possession at a nearby Navajo school for gifted students. Cree has other plans, but after she meets Julieta, the school's beautiful founder and principal, and Joseph, the victim's attending physician, she becomes intrigued with the case. Oak Springs School is located in a remote area of sagebrush desert in western New Mexico. When Cree arrives, most of the students and staff have been sent off on a field trip to remove them from the mysterious circumstances, further adding to the novel's sense of eerie isolation. Tommy Keeday, a 15-year-old with artistic talent, is the victim of seizures that result in his loss of control of parts of his body, and when Tommy experiences these seizures, the animals and humans in his vicinity are immobilized. Julieta knows that Tommy's disability is consistent with the Navajo belief in possession by ancestral spirits, and since this condition is known to be infectious, parents would immediately take their students out of the school if the story of Tommy's malady were made public. Is he merely a disturbed child seeking attention, or is something more complicated at work? The stability of this little world depends on Cree's ability to diagnose and treat Tommy's disorder. Cree approaches the spirit world from the standpoint of scientific investigation. She believes that if she can find out what the ghost is looking for, and figure out why it hasn't managed to move on, she can help to resolve its confusion and release the body it has inhabited. In order to figure out what the ghost's after, Cree uses her psychologist's skills to interview each of the people who surround Tommy. As she draws their stories from these finely etched characters, a past full of sorrow and regret is revealed. She delves deeper and deeper into the history that surrounds these people until she finds the thread that ties them together and to Tommy. The writing here is as magical as a New Mexico sunset. Hecht draws on the natural world, Navajo myth, and research on neurological function to create a hauntingly plausible and incredibly exciting story. This book has depth. There's the exploration of the Navajo world view and the balancing act the Navajo must perform to reconcile themselves with the views of their ancestors while living in the modern world. There's one of the most passionate love stories I have ever read, one that mines the themes of loss, vanity, and the tragic mistakes of the young. The book even takes on the issues of land use on and near the reservation lands of northern New Mexico. All this is layered together seamlessly in an engrossing tale that is told with a loveliness and grace that will leave you breathless. This mystery doesn't tear along at a break-neck pace; instead, it allows the story to unfold richly in the fullness of time. I was grateful for that, but fans of the action-packed chase-scene-on-every-page story might find the book slow moving. But unless you're an adrenaline junkie who can't stand a book longer than 300 pages, I'm pretty sure the story told here will captivate you.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, March 2005
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
