Rick Hautala died on March 21st, 2013. It was a sore blow to all lovers of horror fiction. It hurts every time we lose one of the big names of horror, but it seemed especially painful when Rick passed. Rick Hautala was, to many of us, the heart of the genre. A good guy who wrote quiet, thoughtful horror.
I only met Rick once, and it was very brief. It was pretty special to me in the way it might be special for someone to meet Mick Jagger or Johnny Depp. A friggin' superstar, a legend.
Waiting is the final gift from Rick Hautala to his fans. Originally meant to be one of his A.J. Matthews titles, it languished and didn't see publication for years. Unfortunately not until after his untimely death. A deluxe hardcover is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance, but Haverhill House has done a lovely trade paperback (and ebook), with a haunting cover by frequent Hautala artist Glenn Chadbourne.
I'm not sure of the publication requirements or Rick's intentions with the Matthews books, but they seemed to me to be an attempts to write more mature ghost stories than Hautala's usual fiction set in rural Maine. Either way, it matters not. I like all of Rick's fiction.
Waiting deals with a woman whose life is in transition. Allie has left her controlling husband and has taken an apartment of her own. Uncertain, scared, but determined, she is a classic Hautala character. Allie's soon-to-be ex is harassing her, even while she begins a hesitant relationship with a handsome doctor. If all this emotional turmoil isn't enough, stranger things are happening in Allie's life. She begins to see apparitions of a little boy and a little girl. Ghostly emanations that appear to want something from Allie. Or, ominously, are waiting for something.
Waiting isn't my favorite Hautala. I'd pick The Wildman, or his sorely underrated mainstream novel, The Cove. But Waiting is quintessential Rick Hautala. And that means it should be required reading for any horror fan.
Rick is gone, but his work lives on and it will be read as long as horror is alive. Which means forever. Buy it, read it, review it, recommend it and other Rick Hautala books to your horror friends.
Written by Mark Sieber
I only met Rick once, and it was very brief. It was pretty special to me in the way it might be special for someone to meet Mick Jagger or Johnny Depp. A friggin' superstar, a legend.
Waiting is the final gift from Rick Hautala to his fans. Originally meant to be one of his A.J. Matthews titles, it languished and didn't see publication for years. Unfortunately not until after his untimely death. A deluxe hardcover is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance, but Haverhill House has done a lovely trade paperback (and ebook), with a haunting cover by frequent Hautala artist Glenn Chadbourne.
I'm not sure of the publication requirements or Rick's intentions with the Matthews books, but they seemed to me to be an attempts to write more mature ghost stories than Hautala's usual fiction set in rural Maine. Either way, it matters not. I like all of Rick's fiction.Waiting deals with a woman whose life is in transition. Allie has left her controlling husband and has taken an apartment of her own. Uncertain, scared, but determined, she is a classic Hautala character. Allie's soon-to-be ex is harassing her, even while she begins a hesitant relationship with a handsome doctor. If all this emotional turmoil isn't enough, stranger things are happening in Allie's life. She begins to see apparitions of a little boy and a little girl. Ghostly emanations that appear to want something from Allie. Or, ominously, are waiting for something.
Waiting isn't my favorite Hautala. I'd pick The Wildman, or his sorely underrated mainstream novel, The Cove. But Waiting is quintessential Rick Hautala. And that means it should be required reading for any horror fan.
Rick is gone, but his work lives on and it will be read as long as horror is alive. Which means forever. Buy it, read it, review it, recommend it and other Rick Hautala books to your horror friends.
Written by Mark Sieber
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