Comments on: Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines

By: David Meigs

David Meigs — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:59:33 +0000

I loved the book, and I agree with your feelings on the darker points. But I think it helped delineate the light from the darkness. I would not have named the killer the “Hunter”, but I understand why Tony wrote him that way.

This is my first visit to your blog, but I like what I see.

Excellent review!

By: R LuElla

R LuElla — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:04:46 +0000

Kevin, I don’t have any kids, and I still felt as you did about the chapters written in the villain’s POV. Every time I came to one of those, I cringed inwardly.

But the rest … really well-written.

Anyway, I enjoyed your review, especially the analysis. Hard to do when, for the most part, you’re addressing people who have not yet read the book.

Becky

By: TL Hines

TL Hines — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 02:07:20 +0000

Thanks, Kevin, for such a thoughtful analysis of the book. I did struggle, at times, with the subject matter myself–I frankly never set out to write a book featuring a child abductor. But Jude’s struggle with his own childhood, with his father, and with being the father he always wanted to be, seemed to play into that kind of subplot very well.

As for the depiction of the villain: guilty as charged. The Hunter is over the top, but necessarily so–I felt someone who does something as evil as he does has to have lost touch with his own humanity in many ways. In fact, in previous versions of the book, the Hunter always referred to himself as an “it,” because he feels he’s risen above mere human emotions. I think that probably would have made those sections even more difficult for many people to read, so we can thank Dave Long, my editor, for suggesting we change that.

Again, thanks so much for reading the book–and taking the extra effort of writing about it. I’d love to chat about other books with you sometime. :)