REVIEW: CHRONOSEQUENCE by Hilbert Schenck
Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070
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CHRONOSEQUENCE by Hilbert Schenck
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
Hilbert Schenck writes about New England and the ocean. Most of his
novels deal with these two connected topics. There is usually an off-shore
island, some mysterious happenings, and an explanation for all of it that
goes back to some strange force present for the last two hundred years or
so. The only problem is that all these stories seem to be alike after a
while.
In CHRONOSEQUENCE, we have the main character (a woman scientist--
Schenck also uses female protagonists a lot) buying an old New England diary
at an auction in London. The diary recounts strange events that happened
during a storm off Massachusetts in the 19th Century. (Oh, yes, Schenck
also likes storms.) Then someone tries to steal the book, other people try
to finagle it from her, and a lot of other secret-agent-type stuff goes on.
This part seemed to me largely unnecessary--there was a perfectly good story
without it. But that story would have been about two hundred pages instead
of three hundred, and rumor has it that publishers want longer books. (Most
of Schenck's earlier novels are in the two-hundred-page neighborhood.)
Schenck does a reasonably good job of incorporating this material, but I
think the novel would have been better, and more affecting, without it.
Schenck is not an author for everyone, but his approaches to love and
humanity make his books stand out from the plethora of hardware/military
science fiction. And if New england and the ocean are Schenck's medium,
then love and humanity are his message. Give CHRONOSEQUENCE a try. (Also
recommended are such earlier works as AT THE EYE OF THE OCEAN.)
%T CHRONOSEQUENCE
%A Hilbert Schenck
%C New York
%D December 1990
%I Tor
%O paperback, US$3.95 [copyright 1988]
%G ISBN 0-812-50320-1
%P 314pp