Rick Hautala (1949–2013)

The first thing you should be aware of about this book is that it is absolutely terrible. The second is that it is not even an honestly terrible book. I say that because the description of the book presents it as a paranormal romantic mystery. It is actually a very graphic (and I do mean both “very” and “graphic”) sex book with a rather poorly written ghosty mystery tacked on. I know the tendency with complaints about language and sex content is to frequently think of the reviewer as show more some kind of blue nose jumping up in a chair shouting “Eeeek!” I assure you that I am not exaggerating. There are numerous quite explicit scenes of intercourse, oral sex and masturbation with a dildo that would not be out of place in a men’s magazine. Now that is all well and good if that is what you are bargaining for but the blurb writer should at least give the reader a bit of warning about what is coming-so to speak. And these scenes seem to be the parts of the book that generate the most enthusiasm from the author. The ghost story/mystery part of the book is rather flat with almost no atmosphere. There are a lot of scenes of the characters being possessed by the ghosts and seeing or participating (including having sex) in events in the past. There are some ghosts but they pretty much act like regular people, sometimes standing around chatting with each other. Even without the sex scenes this would be a pretty tepid novel and those really stand out as not fitting in with the rest of the book. show less

As we grow older, we tend to think of childhood as a golden time, when the hours poured through our fingers like water, glistening and plentiful. Summers were especially wonderful, those days when school was out and there was nothing to do but play. But when we call up specific memories, they never seem quite so golden; our friends never seem quite such good friends; and there are terrors that we have worked hard to forget. Perhaps that’s why so many books have been written about that time show more when we transition from childhood to young adulthood, the moment when we begin to regard our childhood fancies as childish.

For Jackie, the main character in Rick Hautala’s Reunion, that “moment” comes in late August, just a couple of weeks before he is to begin attending junior high school. Jackie is camping out in his backyard with his best friend, Chris Hooper. Chris has a great plan: after everyone’s asleep, they’ll steal away and head for the country club, where there’s a high school class reunion going on. They’ll swipe themselves a couple of steaks and have a great time. Jackie’s not sure why he’s so completely opposed to this plan; it’s not that he’s chicken, and he’s no goody-two-shoes, either. It just doesn’t feel right.

John is getting ready to attend the same high school reunion, but he is attending as someone who graduated forty years ago. He is scared to death of this gathering, for reasons he won’t divulge. His wife doesn’t understand it; why did they spend all the time and money to get back to Rockport, Maine from California if he’s so reluctant to actually go to the party? And circumstances seem to be colluding to ensure that they don’t get there at all: a mechanical problem with the plane, no car at the rental place, a mixed-up hotel reservation, and then, to top it all off, a tire blows out when they’re finally on the road. But John is determined to get to the country club despite how frightened he is, because he has a task to accomplish once he’s there.

Jackie ultimately doesn’t have much choice about going, because Chris insists. As they run up and over the bridge, Chris far in the lead, they pass through a strange fog. Isn’t fog supposed to stick to lower places, not higher ones? And why does this particular fog seem so strangely greasy? Why does Jackie feel – changed somehow after that run through that cloud?

Jackie and John are about to collide, thanks to the fog. If I said any more, I’d spoil this lovely, nostalgic novella. The story has a mood that matches that of Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life or Dan Simmons’s Summer of Night, one that brings memories of climbing trees, roaming in the green woods, and doing stupid things that we should never have survived – but most of all, of that special moment when we started to recognize that childhood was ending. Hautala remembers the awkwardness of feeling betwixt and between, no longer a child but not yet an adult, and he conveys it with pitch-perfect dialogue, both interior and exterior. And Hautala also knows how to write about the yearning for childhood adults experience as they remember those long, lazy days before they were old enough to work, when summers stretched out almost endlessly. Reunion is a lovely story. show less

I went camping when I was a kid and this was the type of story that we told around the campfire----well, maybe not as violent as this, but the same type of story. And we scared the crap out of each other. Set in Maine, up on Mount Agiochook, two climbers encounter bad weather and amuse themselves with campfire tales. The fun is short-lived when encounter a legendary creature from Indian folklore that turns out to be much more than just a legend and much nastier than any campfire story. Think show more you know how this story goes? No, actually you don't. It is safe to say that no one is safe from the Mountain King, who is not an unthinking eating machine but is actually an intelligent and sadistic predator on the hunt. Extremely violent and surprising in its plot twists, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I also enjoyed the incorporation of Indian legends into the story and plan on reading Hautala's UNTCIGAHUNK next. show less

I really don't enjoy Hautala's books. This one...it's not a mystery (it doesn't count if the characters know what happened and just refuse to tell the readers), it's not really horror though that's a lot of the flavor. It's certainly not a book I'd give a kid, so not YA. I have no idea what he was aiming for, but as far as I'm concerned he missed all the marks. The story is almost horror - there's certainly a lot of horrific elements. But what makes something horror to me is people being show more helpless - and there's no people here. Nothing but wooden puppets twitching to the author's orders. They do/say/think whatever fits in this paragraph - never mind what they did/said/thought a few paragraphs ago. The stories make no sense, the "threats" are utterly random (how did she help all those others she claims to, if she has to spend all her time hiding from the Reverend in the cemetery?), there are scenes seen from one point of view and then another with completely different things happening (her first meeting with Jim, for instance - did his mother come in before he spoke to Abby, or not? One version has her, the other doesn't mention her at all). The crime was pretty obvious from the start - if you accept Hautala's nasty view of people. I admit I skimmed between her meeting with Jim and the final trick; but nothing at the end was in any way surprising, and I don't think I missed anything. This is clearly a setup for a whole series of these "mysteries", and I will not be reading any of them. Or anything else by this author. show less