Skull Session

Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review:

Daniel Hecht is a very talented guy. Skull session is a very good story with terrific development of characters who a reader will wish he could continue to know when the last page of the book has been turned. It's no wonder that Hecht went on to create the Cree Black series beginning with his "City of Lights" as with so much effort having gone into bringing characters to life, they may as well go on for a few books.

Skull Session is an interesting story with a predictable ending. A great deal of scientific information is offered throughout and with Hecht's occasional slips in presenting this information one can't help but wonder how much of what is offered is erroneous. For example (Daniel), one cannot smell tannins in red wine. Tannins don't have an odor.

But be this as it may, the characters became real, the story was exciting and it's one darned good first novel by my standards. Keep writing man!

Rating:
Summary: A league of his own
Review: Daniel Hecht is a man of formidable talent and imagination. He tackles themes less courageous writers wouldn't dream of touching. I was quite simply blown away by Skull Session, rooted in place, desperate to find out what happened next and yet (as with any splendid book) deeply reluctant to have it end. Tourette's Syndrome has become rather a popular subject in recent years, but Daniel Hecht brought it forward, made it real and comprehensible. He is a fearless, powerfully gifted writer, and while this is not a book for the faint of heart, it is one for those who want something new and different and ferociously intelligent. I would not hesitate to buy anything this author writes, and his second effort, The Babel Effect, proved that Hecht will go on to produce more books of the highest calibre. He is one of the best new writers around today.

Rating:
Summary: accrate protrail
Review: I liked this book because the protrail of tourettes was very good it was a more realtuic protrail that icy sparks. also the book is very good supences story.i really like a urge all who like thrillers to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Ive read it twice
Review: Of the countless books I've read in my 26 years, this one will remain in my top ten for one reason: I hadnt even gotten through the first ten pages before I realized that I have the same condition as the main character. His Tourette's affects him in horrible ways, while mine has rarely been more than a slight nuisance (and sometimes a good conversation piece), but the similarities were too great to ignore. For that reason alone I'll be greatful to Daniel Hecht for writing this book. BUT...without the revelation that I have the same condition as the protagonist, this would still be a memorable book, full of suspence and downright creepy scenes. When an author makes you do research, seeing if what happened in the book actually exists (I'm not speaking of Tourette's, but of another subject which I can't reveal) then you know he's done a good job. This is a wild book, from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A good first novel from Hecht
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Struggling Under the Burden of Advance Praise
Review: To read through the accolades on the dust jacket, I expected miracles, or at least fireworks. The book was entertaining and a worthy first effort, but not exactly the "most psychologically sophisticated thriller" this reviewer has ever read. The many interesting subplots kept me up late into the night. Unfortunately, even the author had trouble keeping track; one or two story lines got lost. In the end, I found the race to the final conflict more exciting than the ultimate outcome. Still, it was well worth the three dollars and the trip to the bargin bin.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Brilliant!
Review: To read through the accolades on the dust jacket, I expected miracles, or at least fireworks. The book was entertaining and a worthy first effort, but not exactly the "most psychologically sophisticated thriller" this reviewer has ever read. The many interesting subplots kept me up late into the night. Unfortunately, even the author had trouble keeping track; one or two story lines got lost. In the end, I found the race to the final conflict more exciting than the ultimate outcome. Still, it was well worth the three dollars and the trip to the bargin bin.