Moonwalker

I've been reading Rick Hautala since the early 1980s when he was writing some of the most memorable novels in the old Zebra horror line. His Moonstone sold more than one million copies. Deservedly. He also wrote a number of fine suspense novels, Impulse being my favorite.

Rick's books work because they balance story, character and milieu perfectly. He creates real people who live in real worlds even when some of the effects are supernatural. And then he proceeds to scare the hell out of you. That's why I never miss a new Hautala book.

The publisher Breakneck Radio has reissued one of Rick's best novels Moonwalker in a handsome trade edition for only $14.95.

The set-up is a grabber. In a small Maine town there's an auxillary work force that picks the potato crops with such tireless force they seem not to be human. Think a very special kind of illegal alien. The strange thing is that the townspeople seem strangely unaware of the workers. At least they never seem to talk about them. But then comes a visitor to the small town and he begins to question the screams at night. And the fact that the townspeople simple accept the workforce without being curious about it.

Amazon called it "fresh and creepy" and indeed it is. It's also a fine novel about a cross-section of workingclass and middle-class people making their uncertain way through this most confusing and dangerous of centuries.

Put this one on your to-buy list.