Waking Lazarus: the blog tour

Author Tony Hines and I have at least one thing in common: at an early age, we were both deeply influenced by Stephen King's The Shining. For Hines, it led to a life-long interest in creepy books that eventually led to the publication of his own creepy book. But for me, it led to a life-long interest in avoiding Stephen King.

I remember it well. It was one of those nights when the mom wasn't around and I could toy with the idea of violating her 'no cable' policy. These were the early hours of the creature known as HBO, and half the neighbors had tapped into the other half's cable boxes in order to gaze on its face with adoration--for free. Back in those gentler days, HBO reserved its 'R' rated films to the evening schedule, which meant HBO was off limits after seven. We didn't even question why; we knew better.

So with one hand on the A/B buttons and one ear listening for the door, I peeked at HBO to check out what the big deal was.

By now you've probably guessed what HBO was playing. That was on channel 2B. Channel 2A was the local channel, syndication heaven, and home to Leave it to Beaver, the Andy Griffith Show, and the Brady Bunch. That was the day schedule. But by night...say after 7pm...their standards changed.

So back to young me, sitting nose to screen in front of the TV (with one hand on the A/B button, and one ear at the door), half frozen with fear of the bizarre world of the Overlook Hotel--and knowing that if things got too freaky, I could pop the cable button and in a wink arrive safely in the land of...Benny Hill.

Truly, I've never been the same since. Now everytime I hear that crazy "Hackysack" theme song from Benny Hill, my mind slips into the POV of a preschooler zipping along on his trike over the baroque carpeting of the Overlook. (See what I mean? The impression is indelible.)

Since then, with two exceptions, I've avoided all things 'scary'. (For the record, I don't do clown dolls, and I don't do velociraptors.) So I really don't know why I volunteered to read Waking Lazarus. I guess I was simply curious to read what passes as 'really scary' and 'a new direction' in CBA mystery/supernatural books.

If Hines's book is an example of what will coming our way, I think the genre will continue to improve and draw in readers like me, who just don't find battling angel scenes all that fearsome. What is much more frightening to me is the fellow next door who looks normal, but isn't.

That's why I was pretty sure Jude Allman wasn't the bad guy: he's a paranoid mess and so obviously un-normal that he had to be our hero. Jude's biggest problem is that, having built a proven track record of returning from the dead, he doesn't much want to live anymore, either. His second biggest problem is one too many men share with him: what to do with Dad; what to do with being a dad.

And that's the heart of this story. Sure there are some ugly people, some scary people doing harm to little kids in Red Lake, Montana, but why? Hines, to his credit, rarely comes out and does anything close to proselytizing but through his story he make the message very clear, anyway: to become good fathers, we've got to come to terms with the Father.

The other message is equally clear: don't diss the gift. Some common gifts, like the simple beauty of an abundant garden or a loving wife, are easily overlooked by a resentful and bitter heart; other gifts, like Jude's unnerving ability to taste death before it arrives, are so uncommon and strange, we flee from them as if a tornado was scouring the very earth behind our heels. If we should succumb to the gift, or even touch it, we fear we will be annilated by its force. So we run. And in the process we run from the nearly inscrutable God that hands us such things. We can't stand the mystery, so like Jude in his hot-wired house, we pack ourselves up and hope to lie low until we die for good.

But if summer's too hot to go this deep with a murder mystery, never fear: Hines keeps the pace lively, which should charm all those commuters stuffed in airless 737s this August. Most might find that satisfying, but for me this is where the book falls flat--and the author might not be to blame. Jude, Rachel, Kristen, and all the rest are actually interesting people, and I would have loved to know them better. But for the sake of commercial viability, we're kept moving just three beats slower than teleplay pace. Only once did I wish the pacing would pick up: Rachel's unnaturally calm behavior as they seek out Nathan had every nerve in my mother-self screaming "get a move on!" (But as I said earlier, this is a book about sons and their fathers, not little boys and their mommies.) It was problems like these that kept me from feeling the horror of the action that I know Hines would have wanted.

That said, I look forward to Hines' next book. In it, I hope we get to know Jude Allman better. It'd sure be a shame to come alive again, only to zip through our lives in one evening's read.

For Waking Lazarus, click this link.
To learn more about TL Hines, click this link.
If you want to relive The Shining, but would rather see it acted by bunnies, click here.