A reporter joins archaeologists in Cambodia as they attempt to unearth the remains of American soldiers from the Vietnam War. There was a skirting of supernatural elements but not enough to intrigue me. It was an okay read for me but not as good as Year Zero or The Descent.

Photojournalist Molly Drake arrives in Cambodia to make an article of the hunt for the remains of American soldiers lost in the jungles during the Vietnam war. Drake makes a mistake and is expelled from the excavation, along with two non-army researchers. The three are planning on leaving, when they get a hot lead and decide to follow it deep in the jungles of Cambodia.

What happens turns swiftly to supernatural. The events take Drake and her group to beautiful ruins in the middle of jungle and things soon become lethal. The story is fascinating, I just had to read it all. Jeff Long has a tendency to wander, I think, but this book was tighter than his other books. I liked that, and to me, The Reckoning is Jeff Long's best novel I've read so far. If you're looking for a highly atmospheric modern ghost story, this one fits the bill. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

(Original review at my review blog) ( )

Ambiguity can often be a fun and tantalizing element to a novel. Unfortunately too much ambiguity leads to confusion and lack of cohesion. That’s exactly what happens to this novel. Having read a few of other of Long’s novels (Year Zero, The Descent and Deeper), I was familiar with the kind of story he weaves; one of deep mystery and unanswered questions. Fortunately in those works we got enough of an explanation for things to keep the story moving and plausible inside the bounds of fiction. No such adequate explanation for the supernatural events in The Reckoning is given and we’re left to draw our own conclusions based on very scanty ideas or facts and it works poorly.

Overall it is well written enough and Molly doesn’t stray too far into caricature. Sure, she’s tough, but she’s not so single-minded as some heroines, neither does she carry a huge chip on her shoulder as so often portrayed. She’s grateful for the help she receives and isn’t above giving a little back. The men around her act within their assigned spheres well enough, too. No sexual entanglements to shift the story and make it an unbearable soap opera. Long’s characteristic creepy bits keep things juicy and delicious. This combination isn't enough to boost it up a couple of rungs from adequate into a very good book though. ( )

A search for a missing patrol in the jungles of Vietnam turns horrifying. ( )

First of all, I recommend this book to any reader of horror that wants something beyond what you can find at the grocery store. There aren't a whole lot of answers here, but this one of of the creepiest ghost stories I've ever read. It is a very cerebral type of horror novel rather -- not like most of what is on the horror shelves these days.

In the acknowledgments section of his book, the author begins by saying "The Reckoning takes history for its haunted house." And indeed it does.

The story begins as Molly Drake, a young photojournalist who has made it into the big leagues and is working for the NY Times, arrives in Cambodia to do a story about a group of US military personnel who are trying to find any remains of a pilot shot down during the war with Vietnam. Among the group is a veteran, John Kleat, looking for his dead brother; an archaeologist, Duncan O'Brian; Samnang, hired by the American recovery team to run the dig, and who also went around collecting indigenous folk songs when he wasn't digging; and a person they call the Gypsy Man, who hides out in the shadows watching the group dig. Molly is there to take pictures, however, when she discovers a flight helmet buried under the bones of victims of the Killing Fields, the military takes her and all civilians off of the excavation. Just when Molly is ready to admit her mission is over before it starts, and just before returning home to New York, she is met in a restaurant along with John Kleat and Duncan by the Gypsy Man, whose name turns out to be Lucas Yale. He tells them of a mysterious place he can take them where they will find remains of US soldiers, and offers proof in the form of several dog tags.

I can't reveal much more without giving away the show - suffice it to say that it will hold your interest and keep you reading for a few hours.
Recommended ( )