Between

When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake.

When Hilton's wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, FL, begins to receive racist hate mail, he becomes obsessed with protecting his family. Soon, however, he begins to have horrible nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are the strange dreams trying to tell him something? His sense of reality begins to slip away as he battles both the psychotic threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep. Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between follows the struggles of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves, but may have already lost. The compelling plot holds readers in suspense until the final, profound moment of resolution.

When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake.

When Hilton's wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, FL, begins to receive racist hate mail, he becomes obsessed with protecting his family. Soon, however, he begins to have horrible nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are the strange dreams trying to tell him something? His sense of reality begins to slip away as he battles both the psychotic threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep. Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between follows the struggles of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves, but may have already lost. The compelling plot holds readers in suspense until the final, profound moment of resolution.

darkecho.com - A Guran

Ms. Due has written a haunting first novel that layers the world that is with worlds that might be. Elements of suspense, Ghanaian folk legend, ghost tales, and a family love story are braided into a suspenseful rope that pulls one readily along.

Deftly handling components of an all-too-true-to-life racist psycho, the protagonist's warning and mind-destroying vision-dreams, and a convincing set of characters, the author holds one's attention with a sure style and fast-moving plot. I read its 271 pages straight through in one sitting.

In The Between, the reader is clued in almost immediately that Hilton James' brushes with finality as a child were in no way final and that we are dealing with alternatives to the present reality that he must somehow accept in order to save his family. His struggle to understand what is happening to him and to protect his family are compelling.

The book's characterization of even minor characters is believeable. For those who would like instruction in how to portray a strong non central female character, the author's DeeDee James is a fine example. The two children in the story are a bit too good to be true, but they still manage to be more realistic than most novelized kids.

The Between frightens us because we believe, from the very beginning, that this can and/or did happen. It is a notable debut by an author who is worth hearing from again.

Tananarive Due is a Miami Herald columnist. A finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for a first novel, she is also included in Naked Came the Manatee, a collaborative mystery novel featuring Miami writers. She lives in Miami, FL.