Nightscape

In each of the stories in this collection there is a theme: obsession and determination. A character gets an idea in his head, a hook on his emotions, a need that has to be fulfilled, and he does everything possible to carry through, no matter how difficult. Written with the haunting emotional intensity and lightning pace that has made David Morrell the master of high-action suspense writing, this collection of stories will leave you dazzled.

From Publishers Weekly

Best known as the author of numerous thrillers, Morrell (The Protector) also has a reputation for crafting sophisticated short horror and science fiction. This solid collection presents a sampling of his work in both genres. The two standouts are "If I Should Die Before I Wake," a harrowing account of a smalltown doctor facing the influenza epidemic of 1918, and "Rio Grande Gothic," a novella about a Santa Fe police officer, Romero, who becomes obsessed with the shoes someone is repeatedly leaving on the highway. His fellow officers consider him eccentric until one pair turns up with feet still in them. Morrell, a former English professor, loves literary references, as shown by Romero's surviving because he reads D.H. Lawrence. Also strong are "Remains to Be Seen," in which the loyalty of a South American military officer knows no bounds, and "Nothing Will Hurt You," in which the father of a girl murdered by a serial killer becomes obsessed with bringing the monster to justice. Morrell's stories tend to combine clean, understated prose and a relatively low-key story line with a shocking surprise at the end. Of particular interest are the general introduction and introductory notes to each story, in which the author ties his fiction to sometimes painful events in his own life. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Morrell writes compelling psychological suspense and manages to cover lots of ground in this relatively slim volume of stories. In the opening story, "Remains to Be Seen," inspired by historical research on Juan Peron, a fanatical underling is trusted with a mysterious but vital cargo as rebels overthrow the "Great Man." The book closes with "Rio Grande Gothic," written for Al Sarrantonio's anthology 999 (1999), in which a cop becomes obsessed with the shoes--a different one each day--abandoned at the side of a road: at first, the shoes seem someone's idea of a practical joke, but eventually they lead to bizarre ritual sacrifices on a secluded farm. The stories in between range from the historically inspired "If I Should Die before I Wake," a terrifying extrapolation from the Spanish flu of the early twentieth century, to the future shock of "Resurrection," in which a boy's terminally ill father is cryogenically frozen and, after a cure is found, brought back to life younger than his son then is; role reversals, anyone? Regina SchroederCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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