Helltracks

Rating:
Summary: The Road To Hell Is Padded By Unnecessary Subplots
Review: When I was a teenager, my best friend Bryan bought me a copy of a horror anthology for my birthday, and my absolute favorite story in it was William F. Nolan's "Lonely Train A'Comin'", a tight little tale about a vengeful rancher seeking the destruction of the phantom train that claimed his sister's life. Needless to say, when I found out that Nolan had expanded the beloved short into a novel, I just had to have it. Well, the novel is a mixed blessing, as I'll detail below.......Read on!

The novel follows pretty much the same path as the short story; It just takes a hell of a lot longer to reach it's destination. Rancher Paul Ventry, still hurting from the death of his wife Sarah, is dealt a crippling blow by the disappearance of his Daughter, Amy. The only clue is a postcard she sent (Conveniently...) from the train station, telling about the steam train she was about to board. The postcard and a bizarre dream combine to convince Paul that his Daughter was killed on board the mystery steamer; Only problem is, no one in Montana runs steamers anymore. Unable to convince the law or his son, Paul sets off into the mountains to exact his revenge alone.
Woven throughout the Ventry/train narrative is the tale of Edward Timmons, a serial strangler also bound for Montana, where he's convinced he'll find a cure for his "Compulsion". His traveling-madman story takes up most of the book, and while it WAS interesting reading, this was where I had the biggest problem with Helltracks. So much time is taken up with Timmons' story, the Train itself doesn't take center stage until around page 280, and the novel is only 305 pages long. The two stories only connection is pretty flimsy, & when Nolan reveals the connection it just makes Timmons' story seem like padding for a tale that couldn't reach novel-length on it's own. (Nolan pretty much admits this in his essay "Tracking Helltracks" in the back of the book.) Nolan brings up some interesting subjects in the book, but none are fully explored, so the book seems like nothing more than a mercilessly padded short story. The book includes an introduction by Richard Matheson, Nolan's "Tracking Helltracks" essay, and the original short story the Novel is based on. Reading "Lonely Train A'Comin'" again made me realize that it's really not such a great story after all....I guess tastes DO change as we get older. Helltracks is limited to 500 signed/numbered copies, and is published by the always-reliable Cemetery Dance, so at least the books LOOKS great. The cover by Alan M. Clark is absolutely stunning. If you're into limited-edition/rare books, Helltracks may be worth your while. If you just want to read the book, you can buy the original 1991 paperback used for a fraction of the cost.