Winter Wake

Rating:
Summary: A really fun, creepy read
Review: I've slammed Hautala in the past for some of his other work but Winter Wake was a really satisfying read. I've read it twice now and I enjoyed it both times. An average American family moves home to a small town in Maine to take care of an elderly relative. They soon find they are being stalked by a kind of wraith that seems to be related to a dark secret from someone's past. Hautala has fun with the idea and it really comes across. There's a lot of genuinely creepy elements to the story (even in the background,) and it makes for a great read. Find it. Read it. Enjoy it. I may even read it again.

Rating:
Summary: CHILLING
Review: Love hurts in Rick Hautala's page-turner WINTER WAKE, the story of a man and his family returning to his homestead on a small Maine island to face his estranged wheelchair-confined father--and the ghost from his past.

You know you're in for a treat when any character in a novel could be bumped off, and WINTER WAKE does just that. No one is safe in this first-rate piece of horror literature, where the fun isn't only in enjoying its stylish plot, but also in understanding the psychological action of its characters. WINTER is more than a story of revenge beyond the grave ; it also a tale of forgiveness, strength and acceptance. John Carlson, the central hero, is the tortured soul, the one to whom everything happens. He is a devoted husband and father. He can also be jealous, arrogant and quick-tempered. His inability to forgive and forget is slowly eating him alive, and while he tries his best to hide it, adversity has the upper hand. Hautala is an ace in creating multi-dimensional characters. Their inner struggles (and not) are shown throughout rich, vivid, and yes, sometimes scary, prose. The good-against-evil theme may not be new, but never is it as profoundly drawn as in this novel.

True to his style, Hautala chooses a dark and eerie atmosphere, holding out on the gross outs in favor of the tension-built scenes. Thumbs up also for the clever way in which he masks the true identity of his villain. You'll scratch your head wondering who "it" really is, as the action develops to a satisfying, edge-of-your-seat conclusion. This is Hautala at his best. Don't miss it.---------Martin Boucher

Rating:
Summary: Great until the very end!
Review: My first book by the author, made me go out and buy 4 more.. Winter Wake will make you keep the light on at night. The end was a shocker, and even though the premise that's revealed isn't the most believable, it's more than made up for by the suspenseful writing.

Rating:
Summary: Average horror novel, for completists
Review: Rick Hautala, Winter Wake (Warner, 1989)

During the eighties, Rick Hautala was touted by the in-crowd as the next Big Thing in horror fiction; Fangoria even predicted Hautala would be the next Stephen King. But Hautala's meteoric descent into obscurity as the decade turned could be predicted by anyone who knows the unwritten (until now) rule of horror fiction blurbs: the more obscure the previously-famous blurb writer for an author, the more likely it is that the blurbed will make the same descent. And the blurb for Winter Wake comes from John Coyne, second only to Frank de Felitta in seventies horror, and just as obscure by the time Winter Wake appeared in 1989.

The rule of horror fiction blurbs wasn't necessarily the only way to prophesy Hautala's downfall. Winter Wake suffers from the traps of many genre horror novels, specifically overdramatized writing and about ten times the number of necessary exclamation points. Neither of these things prevents an author from attracting a core audience and achieving longstanding fame, however, as the example of Brian Lumley shows us. And what beyond that may have erased Hautala's name from the bestseller list is something of a mystery. Winter Wake is not a bad book by any means, despite the shortcomings mentioned above. It's not a great one, either, but no one lined up to give the Pulitzer to Dean Koontz for Darkness Falls, either.

The story presents us with the Carlson family: father Frank, son John, son's wife Julia, and son's stepdaughter Bri. Frank has recently suffered a stroke, and his rehab is taking longer than usual, so John and his family move back to the homestead on a small Maine island to help Frank around the house. Frank and John have never gotten along too well, though, and while Julia and Bri start feeling affection for the old guy almost immediately, things just get worse and worse between father and son. To throw an extra monkey wrench into the works, the house seems to be haunted, and the haunting seems to point to a dark secret in John's past.

The encapsulation above seems to point to Russell Bank's Affliction, doesn't it? Frank Carlson is a lot more affable, and John Carlson isn't quite as dysfunctional, but there's something to be said for the comparison. A family disintegrating over the gradual uncovering of a secret. Hautala, though, doesn't have the deftness of foreshadowing that Banks uses throughout his work; often, there might as well be THIS IS IMPORTANT in foot- high neon red over certain passages in Winter Wake. And while the actual dark secret is somewhat different than what one would expect, Hautala chose to channel the dark secret into an avenue where the logical choices the reader could guess are limited enough that the revelations at the end are still somewhat predictable. The book also suffers from the same unaccountable mood swings that seem to pervade just about every piece of fiction I've been reading recently. John and Julia go from yelling at one another to laughing to sullen silences in the space of a few minutes without any real triggers that we can see. It makes things simple and moves the plot along, but there's a strong feeling of attempted emotional manipulation, and it's just a little too close to the surface. When you can see it, it doesn't work.

Whether Hautala deserves the obscurity in which he finds himself these days is an arguable point; lord knows hundreds of best-selling authors have the same, or far worse, flaws in their various stories than these. The problem is there's not enough here to really start any kind of revival movement. ** ½

Rating:
Summary: Average horror novel, for completists
Review: Rick Hautala, Winter Wake (Warner, 1989)

During the eighties, Rick Hautala was touted by the in-crowd as the next Big Thing in horror fiction; Fangoria even predicted Hautala would be the next Stephen King. But Hautala's meteoric descent into obscurity as the decade turned could be predicted by anyone who knows the unwritten (until now) rule of horror fiction blurbs: the more obscure the previously-famous blurb writer for an author, the more likely it is that the blurbed will make the same descent. And the blurb for Winter Wake comes from John Coyne, second only to Frank de Felitta in seventies horror, and just as obscure by the time Winter Wake appeared in 1989.

The rule of horror fiction blurbs wasn't necessarily the only way to prophesy Hautala's downfall. Winter Wake suffers from the traps of many genre horror novels, specifically overdramatized writing and about ten times the number of necessary exclamation points. Neither of these things prevents an author from attracting a core audience and achieving longstanding fame, however, as the example of Brian Lumley shows us. And what beyond that may have erased Hautala's name from the bestseller list is something of a mystery. Winter Wake is not a bad book by any means, despite the shortcomings mentioned above. It's not a great one, either, but no one lined up to give the Pulitzer to Dean Koontz for Darkness Falls, either.

The story presents us with the Carlson family: father Frank, son John, son's wife Julia, and son's stepdaughter Bri. Frank has recently suffered a stroke, and his rehab is taking longer than usual, so John and his family move back to the homestead on a small Maine island to help Frank around the house. Frank and John have never gotten along too well, though, and while Julia and Bri start feeling affection for the old guy almost immediately, things just get worse and worse between father and son. To throw an extra monkey wrench into the works, the house seems to be haunted, and the haunting seems to point to a dark secret in John's past.

The encapsulation above seems to point to Russell Bank's Affliction, doesn't it? Frank Carlson is a lot more affable, and John Carlson isn't quite as dysfunctional, but there's something to be said for the comparison. A family disintegrating over the gradual uncovering of a secret. Hautala, though, doesn't have the deftness of foreshadowing that Banks uses throughout his work; often, there might as well be THIS IS IMPORTANT in foot- high neon red over certain passages in Winter Wake. And while the actual dark secret is somewhat different than what one would expect, Hautala chose to channel the dark secret into an avenue where the logical choices the reader could guess are limited enough that the revelations at the end are still somewhat predictable. The book also suffers from the same unaccountable mood swings that seem to pervade just about every piece of fiction I've been reading recently. John and Julia go from yelling at one another to laughing to sullen silences in the space of a few minutes without any real triggers that we can see. It makes things simple and moves the plot along, but there's a strong feeling of attempted emotional manipulation, and it's just a little too close to the surface. When you can see it, it doesn't work.

Whether Hautala deserves the obscurity in which he finds himself these days is an arguable point; lord knows hundreds of best-selling authors have the same, or far worse, flaws in their various stories than these. The problem is there's not enough here to really start any kind of revival movement. ** ½

Rating:
Summary: Winter Wake Will Haunt Your Memories
Review: Some horror is dry and too characterized and run of the mill, substituting story depth with graphic shock horror. This story creeps up you and sinks its hooks, and leads you through a tormented family's nightmares that linger in your mind for months after reading it. It was my first book by Hautala, and I was mesmorized by his vivid writing, and his ability to scare you with the subtleness of some more horrific events. He writes a picture into your mind that burns an image into your memories witht he stirrings of fear that flutter inside your gut as you read this tale. I may not be a good writer, but I highly recommend this book for people staying over family's homes, on an island, or during the winter.

Rating:
Summary: Ghost of man's first love comes back to haunt him.
Review: When a man returns home with his family to aid his ailing father, the spirit of his long deceased high school sweetheart begins to wreak havoc. Creepy atmosphere and character oriented plot. Recommended.