Last year I read Dan Simmons' HARD FREEZE, and it was so over
the top that I thought maybe it as a sort of parody. This
year, I've just read D. Daniel Judson's THE BONE ORCHARD
(recommended here some time ago by Gary Warren Niebuhr). All
I can say is that the protagonist of HARD FREEZE is a mere
girly-boy compared to Declan MacManus of THE BONE ORCHARD.
MacManus absorbs more punishment in about ten pages of the
book than Mike Hammer in his entire career.
After that, things really get rough for him. If
HARD FREEZE was over the top, this one's out there in the
stratosphere. There is a sequel, but from Gary's description
of it, it sounds like it may have been written first but
published second, a not unknown phenomenon in the publishing
field. At any rate, THE BONE ORCHARD is entertaining enough,
if incredible, though the protagonist's final shattering
realization comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone but
him.
Bill Crider
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