August 3, 2009

Review: Wait Until Twilight by Sang Pak



Author's Website

What started out as a school art project changes sixteen-year-old Samuel’s whole view on life. Intent on interviewing the recluse mother of triplets who were born deformed Samuel and his friend David head out to her rural home. With it’s run down exterior and darkened interior the house is already giving Samuel the creeps but when he lays eyes on the severely deformed babies he literally loses his lunch.

Haunted by thoughts of them he becomes obsessed. Within a few days he’s drawn back to the house and this time he meets Mrs. Greenan’s older son. A violent man who forces Samuel to commit a terrible act.

Now Samuel’s world is turned upside down. School, friends and his father are all pushed to the rear as the guilt over his actions hits him full force. Now his thoughts are all about saving the mother and her babies no matter what the cost.

Wait Until Twilight starts off a bit too slow for my liking but once I got past the opening few chapters I was immediately drawn into Samuel’s world. With a somewhat estranged older brother and a mother who passed away a year ago Samuel and his father lives are filled with different obsessions. For Samuel it’s acing every class in school. For his father it’s completing an art sculpture his mother designed before her death. With both of them getting through life this way it’s easy to imagine how Samuel got pulled into the crazy obsession.

Pak really nailed it on the head when he describes Samuels fear and thought process. It’s like you’re reading a sixteen-year-old’s journal instead of a novel. After reading this I’m still somewhat chilled and haunted by parts of it. With all the books I read it’s rare to find one that has a story that keeps me thinking it about it long after I’m done. This is a must read for contemporary fiction lovers.

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