A Hidden Place

Rating:
Summary: fascinating fantasy
Review: After his mother dies, Travis Fisher travels to the Midwest town of Haute Montagne to live with his Aunt Liza Burack and her husband Creath. It is the Great Depression and jobs are hard to come by so Travis works for Creath at his ice plant. The Baracks have a strange but beautiful boarder named Anna living in their attic and Travis is attracted to her even though she sleeps with Creath.

Travis starts dating Nancy Wilcox who wants to help Anna escape from Creath. Anna begs Travis to take Anna to a safe place before she starts changing. With Nancy's help he succeeds, but also glimpses Anna in her other form and knows she is not human. He leaves and Nancy watches over Anna until she completes the change. Anna is also waiting for her other half before she can return to her home world, but Haute Montagne is on the verge of exploding and Travis, Nancy, Anna and her other half could get caught in the middle of vigilante justice.

A HIDDEN PLACE is a fascinating work of fantasy starring two misfits who see themselves through an alien's myopic eyes. Nancy's easy acceptance of Anna's origins and Travis's rejection of her is a reflection of the lives they lived up to this point. Anna is a complex character who can see the beauty in humanity, which is the reason Nancy is so willing to help her. Travis is also a complicated person running from a past he can't accept and a future he doesn't believe in unless he makes peace with the mother he both loved and hated.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: fascinating fantasy
Review: After his mother dies, Travis Fisher travels to the Midwest town of Haute Montagne to live with his Aunt Liza Burack and her husband Creath. It is the Great Depression and jobs are hard to come by so Travis works for Creath at his ice plant. The Baracks have a strange but beautiful boarder named Anna living in their attic and Travis is attracted to her even though she sleeps with Creath.

Travis starts dating Nancy Wilcox who wants to help Anna escape from Creath. Anna begs Travis to take Anna to a safe place before she starts changing. With Nancy's help he succeeds, but also glimpses Anna in her other form and knows she is not human. He leaves and Nancy watches over Anna until she completes the change. Anna is also waiting for her other half before she can return to her home world, but Haute Montagne is on the verge of exploding and Travis, Nancy, Anna and her other half could get caught in the middle of vigilante justice.

A HIDDEN PLACE is a fascinating work of fantasy starring two misfits who see themselves through an alien's myopic eyes. Nancy's easy acceptance of Anna's origins and Travis's rejection of her is a reflection of the lives they lived up to this point. Anna is a complex character who can see the beauty in humanity, which is the reason Nancy is so willing to help her. Travis is also a complicated person running from a past he can't accept and a future he doesn't believe in unless he makes peace with the mother he both loved and hated.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A Hidden Place
Review: Wilson's debut novel does not light up the brain or challenge the senses all that much, but if you liked John Carpenter's Star Man, or even ET, a lot, then A Hidden Place deserves a look.

The setting is typical American small-town Haute Montagne, where Travis Fisher stays with his aunt and uncle, as well as eerily beautiful upstairs boarder Anna Blaise. His guardians are not always friendly: Aunt Liza is quick to remind Travis about his late mother's dubious morals, while Uncle Creath--really just Creath--is openly hostile towards the boy, especially as regards any attention Travis may give, or want to give, Anna Blaise. The reason for this becomes shockingly clear--the creaks on the stairs, at night, tell Travis that Creath makes clandestine visits to Anna Blaise's room, and that she lets him. But Travis is less preoccupied with Anna once he begins a pleasant romance with local rebel Nancy Wilcox, who can't quite get in line with her mother's Baptist outlook.

Meanwhile, the narrative sometimes cuts away to the adventures of Bone--tall, quiet mystery-man--riding the Depression-era rails with hoboes Deacon and Archie. Bone watches as Deacon slowly transforms into a man capable of unspeakable acts in order to acquire food and money, while Archie, the weaker man, wonders if he can remain loyal to his friend. Bone himself ponders abandoning his pals, because he can't understand murder for a handful of cash, and he must answer a mysterious Calling.

The story unfolds quickly, as Travis and Nancy come to know Anna Blaise's strange secrets, and witness her power to affect mens' minds...while Bone heads towards his destiny. Of course it's not hard to figure that Bone and Anna are somehow linked, and that everyone involved with them will be changed by them in some way.

This is a simple tale, well told. It is perhaps missing some unique angle to add fizz. But it is engrossing throughout, with maybe a finale that is too neat, too trite.

Quick and entertaining.