To quote The New York Times no less, Randy’s latest review is of a novel that is “Part horror novel, part detective story and part speculative fiction” which seems appropriate for our Countdown to Halloween.
Hilton was seven when his grandmother died, and it was a bad time. But it was worse when she died again.
From the Prologue
When Hilton came home from grade school, he found his Nana on the kitchen floor, skin cold to the touch. He ran and when he brought help, she was upright and mobile. But he was sure she was never the same Nana after that. Then she died a second time, saving him from drowning before disappearing in the undertow.
Now married to Dede (pronounced DAY-day) and with her a parent of two, Hilton is tormented by dreams that began after Nana’s death. Stopped once by therapy, they have returned now his family is under threat from a racist who appears to resent Dede’s appointment as a judge. Hilton comes to believe the answer to his troubles lie in the dreams, but he can barely remember them and the struggle to avoid them and still function normally at work and home, is wearing him down.
Are the dreams a threat or a warning or something else? And why do the dreams shift between variations on the same events? And who are the people in them who address him, who tell him he shouldn’t be there? As he recalls fragments, will he be able to understand them and save his family before the dreams drive him insane?
The Between refers to a space between realities. It may also refer to families like Hilton’s situated somewhere between success at achieving the American middle-class dream while not beyond the forces of racism threatening to undermine or even destroy them. Due displays the damage racism inflicts on those who, whatever their attainments, are seen as less than; she does so at this early stage of her career with the assurance of a veteran author, even taking the risk of inserting italicized outbursts that at first seem incoherent but gain meaning as the novel progresses.
Due is not a showy prose stylist, but a good one, her concision and close descriptions bringing the story to life in well-conceived and executed scenes. Hilton, Dede and his children all come across as distinctive, believable characters, as do their relatives and family friends. Due provides some action, but mostly focuses on Hilton and on his relationships under the stress of his internal and external struggles.
Besides The Between, I’ve read The Good House and Ghost Summer (story collection), and I would recommend Tananarive Due to anyone who craves a different perspective on the ghost/horror/weird tale. Certainly, anyone who has already read Due but not this one, should, and anyone who hasn’t read her would find this a good starting place.
THE BETWEEN by Tananarive Due (1995; HarperCollins)
