Prince of Lost Places (Hardcover)

by Kathy Hepinstall (Author) "The detective hated it when people looked at his face..." (more)
Key Phrases: John Denver, Flashlight Stories, Rio Grande

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A mother's worst nightmare threatens to become reality in Hepinstall's third novel. Unlike her first two Southern gothic creations (Absence of Nectar and The House of Gentle Men), this haunting tale takes a more contemporary, less regional spin, trading folkloric poetry for a primal, metaphoric landscape. In clean, economical prose, Hepinstall examines how far an unstable mother will go in order to protect her child. After an explosion set off by a janitor with a grudge at her son Duncan's Ohio school kills one child and injures several others, Martha is terrified for his safety. She decides the only way to protect him is to run away to a remote cave on the Rio Grande. Her distraught husband, David, thinks she has lost all contact with reality and hires William Travis, a private investigator, to find her and bring her back for treatment. But he doesn't count on Martha falling in love with the detective, who calls himself Andrew. "I was trapped between two competing kinds of love, a river squeezed by its border countries," muses Martha as she struggles to keep her son safe in an unsafe world and fights her newfound desire. When David finally tracks them down and forces her to make a decision, Martha must confront the boundaries of reality and fantasy. The dreamlike setting enhances the psychological suspense in this taut tale of loss and discovery.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Sanity sways on a pendulous thread in Hepinstall's unorthodox novel about a mother who will go to any length to protect her young son. After a neighborhood girl is murdered, Martha Wells whisks her six-year-old son, Duncan, off to a secluded cave near the Rio Grande to shelter him from a world she now sees as monstrous. David Warden, Martha's husband, is desperate to find her, believing her to be unbalanced and in dire need of medical attention. He hires a reputable detective to retrace her steps, but the duplicitous investigator falls in love with Martha and never returns. Martha is unaware that the gentle stranger she slowly learns to trust is a man hired by her husband to bring her home. With the exception of her drastic move to the cave, Martha is a coherent and loving mother who does not appear to be the lunatic described by David. Hepinstall's quirky novel takes a shocking and unanticipated turn at the end that will surprise even the most intuitive reader. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (January 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399149368
• ISBN-13: 978-0399149368
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,644,595 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good one, but not the best one, February 19, 2003

By	Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I have been a fan of Kathy Hepinstall ever since I read her first novel. Each of her stories is compelling, gripping, and definitely unique. She's a truly excellent writer and storyteller, and I expect her to remain one of my top favorites authors of all time.

Hepinstall's latest offering, Prince of Lost Places, was different for me. I really enjoyed the story and was sad that it didn't go on for at least 100 more pages. However, if I compare it to her other two novels, I would have to put this one last. It wasn't as suspenseful and page-turning as I was expecting.

Prince of Lost Places tells the story of a mother, the love she has for her son, and her determination to keep him safe in a dangerous world. There has been a killing in 6-year-old Duncan's school, and the little neighbor girl, Linda, is dead. Duncan's mother, Martha, is beside herself with worry -- so much so that she is constantly checking on him in the middle of the night. For fear that she is no longer able to keep Duncan safe, Martha steals away with him in the middle of the night to a cave on the Rio Grande where they will live, hidden, from the dangers of the world. However, their safety is soon threatened by an intruder -- the private detective who's been hired to find them.

The ending of this story came from absolutely nowhere and knocked me flat! It was truly the best part of the book, and it makes me want to read the story over again knowing what I know now. I recommend this book to all Hepinstall fans because I believe you will be pleased. However, for new fans, I believe The Absence of Nectar is a better display of Kathy Hepinstall's exceptional storytelling talent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Loved This Book!, February 10, 2005

By	Rhonda Millen "Author of Scratch...It's Not A... (Orlando Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A beautifully written tale of a mothers wish to protect her child, at all cost, and her unconditional love that surpasses reality to find comfort in an illusion.
Unpredictable, mind-blowing conclusion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONCE AGAIN, KATHY FINDS THE MAGIC, June 14, 2003

By	Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In each of her three fine novels, Kathy Hepinstall shows readers that she's not only a talented writer - eloquent, imaginative and entertaining - but that she has a rare ability to find within each story an element of magic, something at the core of a character or a situation that transcends (and at the same time illuminates) the frail reality through which we, and her characters, pass. The characters themselves are always entirely believable, immediately acceptable to the reader, sounding a resonating chord of empathy almost from the moment they are introduced. The stories/situations in which her characters find themselves are equally grounded - even as they venture near the fantastic from time to time, there is nothing in them that is beyond belief. From time to time, I read a novel or story that stretches things a little too far - I find myself saying, `Oh, come on now...' I have never felt that way reading any of Kathy's books - they always draw me in rapidly, allowing me to feel myself pulled along by the characters and plots. Each one has made me more and more glad that THE HOUSE OF GENTLE MEN caught my eye that day in the bookstore.

There is an element of madness within PRINCE OF LOST PLACES - it's a definite presence, but we're not sure for most of the book where to place it. It's a bit like a firefly that won't settle anywhere - when it finally lands (and Kathy plays the suspense element of this novel masterfully) it does so delicately, touching without tainting, without judging, without condemning or vilifying. We're left with the questions `Who is really mad', `What is reality' and `What would YOU have done?' echoing in our heads.

Without going into the plot itself (it's been done in plenty of other places), I'll simply point out that the emotions experienced by the characters are deep and real - and they're emotions with which each and every reader should be able to empathize. The book is a brief one - and I have to agree with another reviewer below that the pace with which the story is told (as well as the multiple viewpoints) adds to the presence of `dysreality' (I love making up words...) within. I put off reading this wonderful novel for too long - now that I've experienced it, I'm sorry I didn't pick it up as soon as it came out. This one shouldn't be missed!