The Lost Boy

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: After a few disappointing novels, Noel Hynd is back with a strong super creepy title. Reminiscent of Ghost, one of the best novels I have ever read, this book will keep you turning the paged till the wee hours of the morning. If you like ghost stories that will make your hair stand on end then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: I had to put this book down, my plane landed!
Review: I started reading this book on a flight from Puerto Rico to New Jersey and couldn't wait to get to my hotel to pick it up again. I was horrified to imagine people like the Corbetts really existing. Our physical life, our spiritual life, one in the same? It is wonderful to imagine that I could come back and make all that was wrong - right. Great read, would make a wonderful movie!

Rating:
Summary: LOST IN REDUNDANCY
Review: Noel Hynd's books are all rather slow-paced and "Lost Boy" is no exception. While I like the characters of Michael Chandler and Ellen Wilder, their constant rehashing of their background crises is overdone and essentially seems to be Hynd's way to pad the book. Chandler's death experience is frightening, but we are over-saturated with his feelings about it; same goes for Ellen Wilder and her decision to buy the failing newspaper and her regrets over giving up a child for adoption. The "Lost Boy" of the title is really two lost boys, as the reader will find out. The Corbett family is despicable and typically redneck, which is odd for a Connecticut setting. They are so over-the-top sometimes that it's almost farcical. Franny Corbett is initially pictured as such an evil force that when we find out who he really is and why he's like that, it seems like such a turnaround...not totally credible.
Why give it three stars? The book has some really frightening sequences, and in spite of the length, I found the book a good read. When Franny shows Chandler some of his "tricks" in the cemetery, including making it snow, there is a poignancy and haunting atmosphere realistically conjured.
Hynd is not one of my favorite "spook" authors, but he has given us some good chills in the past and this book is worth a read if you like ghost stories.

Rating:
Summary: LOST IN REDUNDANCY
Review: Noel Hynd's books are all rather slow-paced and "Lost Boy" is no exception. While I like the characters of Michael Chandler and Ellen Wilder, their constant rehashing of their background crises is overdone and essentially seems to be Hynd's way to pad the book. Chandler's death experience is frightening, but we are over-saturated with his feelings about it; same goes for Ellen Wilder and her decision to buy the failing newspaper and her regrets over giving up a child for adoption. The "Lost Boy" of the title is really two lost boys, as the reader will find out. The Corbett family is despicable and typically redneck, which is odd for a Connecticut setting. They are so over-the-top sometimes that it's almost farcical. Franny Corbett is initially pictured as such an evil force that when we find out who he really is and why he's like that, it seems like such a turnaround...not totally credible.
Why give it three stars? The book has some really frightening sequences, and in spite of the length, I found the book a good read. When Franny shows Chandler some of his "tricks" in the cemetery, including making it snow, there is a poignancy and haunting atmosphere realistically conjured.
Hynd is not one of my favorite "spook" authors, but he has given us some good chills in the past and this book is worth a read if you like ghost stories.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read.
Review: What can I say, this book is one of the most moving, thought provoking books I have come across. I read it 2 years ago, and recommend it to anyone looking for a great read. I think Noel Hynd is an author who definately deserves more recognition.