Customer Reviews

Twilight Time

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When Rick Hautala isn't reading Hamlet or outlining his latest book (or outlining Hamlet, for that matter), he spends his time exploring the dark recesses of his mind. In 1994, his mental spelunking resulted in the novel Twilight Time.

After many years of therapy, Jeff Wagner thinks he finally has his multiple personality disorder under control. Although extremely high strung, Jeff leads a normal life. He has a supportive wife and adoring daughter, and holds a job as a professor of history at a local college. Jeff's relative serenity is disturbed, however, by his sister's attempted suicide. In order to care for her, he must return to his hometown in Maine. Jeff's homecoming triggers a series of traumatic events which bring him into direct confrontation with his horrible past, as he finds himself drowning in a sea of unwanted memories involving beatings, incest and the disappearance of his younger brother, Jeremy.

Hautala's writing is sure and effective. Jeff's conflicts and problems are realistically rendered, and his journey towards the truth is compelling--his dialogues with his alter personalities, which take place in a part of his mind that Jeff calls the "safe room," are especially engrossing.

It is regrettable that this book was labled as a horror novel when it should have been catagorized as mainstream suspense. Readers who dismiss that "horror crap" out of hand probably missed out on this enthralling psychological thriller.

Rick Hautala has been called "that other writer from Maine," an obvious reference to horror master Stephen King. Unfortunately, Hautala is nowhere near the mastery of Mr. King, as evidenced in this mediocre thriller.
Hautala's problem is he's too long; his narrative is clunky, redundant and way too wordy; this inhibits his suspense factor considerably.
TWILIGHT TIME focuses on Jeff Wagner, a man with multiple personalities as a result of trauma during his childhood. He has been under therapy for a while and seems to be able to successfully integrate his alternative personalities into his daily life. His idyllic life ith wife and daughter in Denver is shattered, however, when he is called back to his hometown in Maine when his sister attempts suicide. Jeff doesn't want to return to Maine, however, to face the old skeletons in his closet which include child abuse and an incestual relationship with his sister. Once he returns, he begins to feel that his alternate personalities may be responsible for the eventual death of his sister and the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend's little boy.
Astute readers will figure out the climactic "twist" early on. Jeff's conversations with his other personalities are overdone and merely used as an excuse to bring Jeff's memory back, but they're not all that enticing.
Hautala needs to work with his editor to cut out about 100 pages of his books; that might make them more enjoyable.