Skull Session

I read this book 7 years ago and have reread it twice since. I was expected a literary ghost story when I bought Skull Session and was rewarded with something even better - a true psychological thriller by a writer gifted in plotting and narrative. Paul Skoglund is a man with reduce expectations. His marriage ended in divorce, the medication for his Tourette's syndrome leaves him feeling mentally swathed in cotton wool, his son has a little understood neurological illness and his job prospects are limited. So his Aunt Vivien's offer a job restoring her once beautiful now vandalized house seems a godsend, even though it requires revisiting painful family memories like his father's suicide. But just what did happen to and at that house? And is it connected to the strange deaths that policeman Morgan Ford is investigating? The answers will defy your expectations. Hecht's theme is the mysteries (and power) of our own neurological wiring, what appears to be a "handicap" may be a gift, and a gift may really be a curse. This isn't a quick read but it is absorbing and highly enjoyable.

Tautly written, with great character development, near-science fiction was fascinating projection. Main character has Tourette's Syndrome, which alone makes novel stand out. But when dark things start happening around an ancestral home, there come interesting Jungian twists and reflections.

This is not a "professional" review. I am just a voracious reader for all types of books..I have read some of the other reviews that focused on character/plot development. I would like to tell you how this book made me feel while I was reading it.1. Entranced- when I was at work and could not be at home reading I was afraid the characters were moving on without me.2. Absorbed- I felt part of the book- an interested observer that was able to hear all the thoughts that motivated the action.3. Impressed: To think that a first book could have all this thought/action/characters/plots and be interwoven to become statement about humanity... The thing that separates humans from "monstors" is control. We all have monstor potential and characteristics. I loved the ending when Paul's monster "shifts" inside him at the thought of someone keeping him from his son....I can't wait to read his next book....

Daniel Hecht is a man of formidable talent and imagination. He tackles themes less courageous writers wouldn't dream of touching. I was quite simply blown away by Skull Session, rooted in place, desperate to find out what happened next and yet (as with any splendid book) deeply reluctant to have it end. Tourette's Syndrome has become rather a popular subject in recent years, but Daniel Hecht brought it forward, made it real and comprehensible. He is a fearless, powerfully gifted writer, and while this is not a book for the faint of heart, it is one for those who want something new and different and ferociously intelligent. I would not hesitate to buy anything this author writes, and his second effort, The Babel Effect, proved that Hecht will go on to produce more books of the highest calibre. He is one of the best new writers around today.

When I finished reading Skull Session I was totally speechless! What a unique, thrilling, creepy story! People have asked me to describe what this book is about and I find it very difficult to explain it. The storyline is so awesome that it would take another book to describe it. In conclusion, the ending was unbelievable! This has to be one of the best books I've ever read. It sure beats all those normal mystery, thrillers in which you know the outcome by the middle of the novel.