This is an interesting book on many levels, and had me hooked from the first page and, as much as it may seem that this would be an automatic 5 thumbs review, there were parts of this novel that pulled it down to a 4 thumbs rating.

The main protagonist suffers from Tourette’s syndrome which in itself is an unusual choice of malady to use in a protagonist. However, it works well with the subject matter of the book and, through the struggles the main lead has with his condition the reader learns a great deal about this illness; and this is where the book lost its 5 thumbs, at times there is so much neurological information it slows the narrative down, and that really affects the novel overall, but it did make me wonder if the Author had not had personal experience in some way of Tourette’s. Back to the main character; it is safe to say that this man has his plate full dealing not only with his own problems but those of his son who also has issues, what kind I am not saying as it would spoil the experience of reading the book. The reader is often taken inside the mind of the main character and is able to experience the world he lives in and the events that happen to him through his eyes. This serves to make him a very real person with great depth and, at times, it feels as if the reader is right there with him in this world.

When I first started reading this I assumed it was going to be a purely neurological thriller, and was quite happy to accept this; as I soon found out I was totally wrong. With a skilful hand the Author turns this book into a cross-genre novel covering everything from horror to supernatural urban fantasy with stops at the psychological and medical arenas along the way. It may sound that this leads to what is a very disjointed read, but each of the genres are woven seamlessly together making this an easy, if not very fast paced, read. For the die-hard horror fan out there, the ‘scary’ portions of this book may seem a little tame, but with everything that this book has going for it, it really doesn’t matter in my opinion.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good thriller/mystery, and I will be reading more by this Author.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/05/15/review-skull-session-daniel-hecht/





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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840132727X

This is an interesting book on many levels, and had me hooked from the first page and, as much as it may seem that this would be an automatic 5 thumbs review, there were parts of this novel that pulled it down to a 4 thumbs rating.

The main protagonist suffers from Tourette’s syndrome which in itself is an unusual choice of malady to use in a protagonist. However, it works well with the subject matter of the book and, through the struggles the main lead has with his condition the reader learns a great deal about this illness; and this is where the book lost its 5 thumbs, at times there is so much neurological information it slows the narrative down, and that really affects the novel overall, but it did make me wonder if the Author had not had personal experience in some way of Tourette’s. Back to the main character; it is safe to say that this man has his plate full dealing not only with his own problems but those of his son who also has issues, what kind I am not saying as it would spoil the experience of reading the book. The reader is often taken inside the mind of the main character and is able to experience the world he lives in and the events that happen to him through his eyes. This serves to make him a very real person with great depth and, at times, it feels as if the reader is right there with him in this world.

When I first started reading this I assumed it was going to be a purely neurological thriller, and was quite happy to accept this; as I soon found out I was totally wrong. With a skilful hand the Author turns this book into a cross-genre novel covering everything from horror to supernatural urban fantasy with stops at the psychological and medical arenas along the way. It may sound that this leads to what is a very disjointed read, but each of the genres are woven seamlessly together making this an easy, if not very fast paced, read. For the die-hard horror fan out there, the ‘scary’ portions of this book may seem a little tame, but with everything that this book has going for it, it really doesn’t matter in my opinion.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good thriller/mystery, and I will be reading more by this Author.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2015/05/15/review-skull-session-daniel-hecht/





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
( )

READ IN DUTCH

This was a very weird book. It's starts like an ordinary thriller. The main character, troubled with many problems (his Tourette's syndrome, not having a job, you name it), is asked by his aunt to renovate one of her houses. It seems strange things have happened in the house, and young people have gone missing.



So far, so good. Although not extremely original perhaps. But then it takes a turn for the bizarre and extreme, turning it more and more in to something either fantasy or horror like, both of which I wasn't expecting. I didn't really liked the ending either... ( )

I picked up this book based on my enjoyment of Daniel Hecht’s Cree Black series. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. An unemployed teacher, who happens to have Turret’s, takes on the job of renovating his aunt’s large home. In the renovation process he uncovers many family secrets. Reading this book I never really got to like any of the characters, so those horrible family secrets didn’t mean a lot to me. Finished the book only because I felt I should. ( )