Forever Twilight 2: Windows to the Soul

A strange light has removed all but a handful of people from Earth and, one day later, returned the tiniest fraction of them. But these new people are different. They come out only at night and even then only with dark glasses; they wear thick gloves (whatever the temperature); and they customize mechanical equipment and vehicles to perform functions for which they were never intended. And they can kill just by the touch of their bare hands.

A group of disparate individuals embarks on a journey of revelation and horror through a deserted world...a journey that not all of them will survive. A quartet from a small-town radio station (Forever Twilight Book One: Darkness Darkness); a precognitive girl and a cuckold husband, both survivors of a plane crash; a young serial killer; and a woman who hears voices these are the bedrock of the group so far.

But across the country and all around the world time is running out for mankind. Darkness is spreading across the sky from the east and the days are becoming shorter. The newcomers can spend increasingly more time out on the streets and it soon becomes clear that those spared the original cull of humanity must work hard...to save both themselves and the planet.

The second installment of Crowther's horror-nuanced Forever Twilight saga (after 2002's Darkness, Darkness) can be summed up in two words: unfulfilled potential. Set on an Earth where all but a few people have just up and sidestepped into another world after a blinding flash of light, the eerie, apocalyptic story revolves around a handful of misfit survivors, including Ronnie Mortenson, a miserable man stuck in a loveless marriage; Sally Davis, an emotionally unstable widow who hears voices; and Virgil Banders, a serial killer with a fondness for binding his victims like mummies. Though the novella is rich in well-developed characters and dark ambience, at its conclusion the plot has barely been advanced. Readers expecting insights into the multitude of questions will be sadly disappointed. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.