Charlie and Constance must figure out who has been setting fire to abandoned hotels, restaurants, and schools around the country. Reprint. PW.
From Publishers WeeklyTypical of Wilhelm's recent work ( Huysman's Pets ), this SF story takes the form of a mystery novel whose solution is, in human terms, unknowable. A malfunctioning alien space probe flickers in and out of existence from another dimension. All that Earthly eyes can see is a bizarre patterns: random outbreaks of madness and murder that occur in old, closed-up, wood-frame hotels. The loss of his wife and son compels Carson Danvers to go a monomaniacal crusade, burning down each of these host buildings, in hopes of ending the local manifestations. Alarmed insurance companies bring in retired arson investigator Charlie Meiklejohn to catch the criminal, but the sleuth soon teams up with his quarry to deal with the larger, deeper problem. Wilhelm is in top form as the thriller plot races along while characters teeter over an abyss of insanity and loss.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A private investigator follows the trail of a serial arsonist only to find himself allied with his prey in an effort to destroy an unearthly device that spreads insanity in its wake. Wilhelm's ( Crazy Time ) imaginative splicing of sf and horror produces a fast-moving, impelling story that should appeal to her sizable readership. Recommended. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.