In the Night Season: A Novel [Paperback]

Richard Bausch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Nora Michaelson and her eleven-year-old son, Jason. are going through a difficult adjustment to life after the accidental death of Jason's father. at a time when the family's small business was failing. The loss of Jack Michaelson has left his wife and son nearly destitute. It has also placed their lives in jeopardy. This is a story of terror, and resourcefulness in the face of terror, from a master storyteller.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An 11-year-old boy and his recently widowed mother face dangers both internal and external in Richard Bausch's bloody but psychologically acute thriller. After a freak bus accident leaves Jack Michaelson dead and his family destitute, Nora and Jason Michaelson just barely scrape by. When their black neighbor Edward Bishop offers to drop in on Jason each afternoon, Nora is grateful--until Bishop finds a series of increasingly frightening hate letters stuffed into his mailbox, signed by an organization calling itself the Virginia Front. "Watch your step with the white woman," they warn, and, "The woman & her son will burn with you." When two strangers break into Bishop's home, hog-tie, beat, and murder him, it's only natural that the police go looking for racists. Meanwhile, the real culprits go looking for Nora and Jason Michaelson.

Jack Michaelson was, as it turns out, a man of many secrets, and Nora and Jason's kidnappers expose them one by one. Even the villains here are fully fleshed out, their demons rivaled only by those of loneliness, family dysfunction, and greed. But make no mistake: this may be a "literary" thriller, but it's also a very scary one. The author of critically acclaimed short fiction and novels, including the comic gem Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea, Bausch proves himself here as adept at building narrative tension and suspense. The characters don't always have the depth--or the appealing quirkiness--of those in Bausch's previous work, but what this novel lacks for in subtlety, it makes up for in sheer ominous power. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Bausch (Good Evening, Mr. and Mrs. America, LJ 8/96) is a widely admired writer of considerable talent. But he's off his mark in this tale of a family nearing bankruptcy, the death of the husband in an accident, and the terror visited upon his survivors when his "associates" come for the stolen smuggled goods he's hidden, reneging on his part of the deal. The plot is canned; the action, especially how two of the villains manage to do each other in, often strains credibility; and the characters seem to have wandered in variously from McCrumb, Pelecanos, and even Grisham novels. All that said, the writing itself is good, and the book is decidedly a page turner; in spite of (and perhaps even because of) its flaws, it's hard to put down. Surely not essential, but buy if the budget allows for Bausch fans and Grishamites.?Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060930306
• ISBN-13: 978-0060930301
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,056,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A roller coaster ride of a story!!!, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Night Season: A Novel (Paperback)

Although I must admit to a bias toward Richard Bausch's work (he was my fiction writing professor in college), I enjoyed In The Night Season. For veteran Bausch readers, it is quite a departure from previous novels, although not an unpleasant one. This novel has plenty of action and a suspenseful storyline however the denouement was predictable. I do appreciate Bausch's efforts to forge into uncharted territory however.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Rate Suspense, June 20, 2002

By 

Nanci "Book Dragon" (Tri-Cities, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In the Night Season: A Novel (Paperback)

I had read the book of Bausch's short stories and was impressed. However, this novel was absolutely first rate. He manages to hold the tension in the book right up to the epilogue. I love authors who fully develop their characters, and Bausch is a master of that, even in a suspense novel. As a writer I always read with one eye on the craft of the novel.
This was like seeing a movie that had you on the edge of your seat the whole time. I plan to read lots more by this author.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pulse-racing suspense, June 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Night Season: A Novel (Hardcover)

"With IN THE NIGHT SEASON, Bausch weds a plot with all the pulse-racing suspense of a popular crime novel to a sensitive limning of two recurrent themes in his recent work: the rivulets causing family love to wander off course and the reaction of ordinary people to extraordinary dangers....Richard Bausch has long been one of the most expert and substantial of our writers. And his talent is long overdue for wider recognition." --Boston Globe