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 thriller with a difference
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and was frustrated to hear this is the only book to date by Daniel Hecht. Was great to read a thriller and not be able to guess the ending by the third chapter(an all too common situation). Enjoyed the characters, the mystery of the wrecked lodge, and the extra 'meat' of the story like the Tourettes Syndrome, which I never knew much about. After so many bad thriller genre reads lately, Skull Session was a breathe of fresh air. Thanks to Daniel Hecht-can't wait for your next book.

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.