Review by James Moore

STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING - 2001 by Christopher Golden Signet Books $6.99 PB ISBN 0-451-20276-7

Has anyone else noticed the number of horror novels that deal with puberty and coming of age? There are a lot of them out there if you look around. Stephen King's IT and THE BODY, Robert R. McCammon's BOY'S LIFE, Ray Bradbury's THE HALLOWEEN TREE and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and a few dozen more. I've even hit on the subject myself. The latest one I've run across, and one that deserves to rest in the same bookshelves as all of the aforementioned titles is STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING, by Christopher Golden.

Golden is another writer who either remembers his own adolescence very, very well, or is perfectly capable of lying about it beautifully. The story here involves Kevin Murphy, an almost-fourteen year old boy who is killing off his last summer before high school in all the usual ways, including spending as much time as he can with his friends, squabbling with his older brother, Jesse and worshipping the girl of his dreams, while lamenting that he never quite has the guts to let her know how he feels. The object of his desires is Nicole, "Nikki" French, a red haired beauty who looks on Kevin as her best friend, and tends to seek out the worst types of guys to be the object of her desire. If you can remember anything at all about puberty, the odds are you wither were one of these two, or knew them both, even if their names, sexes and faces were changed to protect the innocent. It's a simple enough equation: as long as Kevin is with Nikki, he feels complete. As long as Kevin is there to pick of the pieces when she crashes another relationship, Nikki can survive the things she puts herself through.

That's not to say Kevin is waiting on the sidelines and pining away for Nikki. Quite to the contrary when the novel begins he's got a girl of his own and the fights between them are as powerful as anything I've run across that deals with relationships. Golden hits the nail on the head when it comes to the turbulent waters of adolescent infatuation. But that's just the backdrop to this story. That's the setting to let you know what's happening and how drastically things are going to change when Nikki meets a new, older boy, a young man named Peter Starling. Peter is in his late teens, at least a handful of years older than Nikki. He's a handsome, charming guy with a car, and he and his friends are also the very same older kids who, just days before Nikki meets him, were doing their very best to beat the living hell out of Kevin and his friends. Needless to say, Kevin doesn't trust Pete very much.

Despite his own instincts about the stranger, Kevin is willing to even go against his better judgement and spend time with Pete and his gang in order to stay near Nikki. Golden deftly weaves the story together, dealing with the problems arising from Kevin's blooming feelings for Nikki and his virtual abandonment of his peers on several occasions. He also slowly cranks up the level of tension revolving around Pete Starling and his gang. The novel kicks into overdrive around the same time that Pete takes off with Nikki, leaving Kevin to try to find her and save her from whatever it is that has taken her away from his world.

There are supernatural elements to the novel. STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING Morning pushes the boundaries between a traditional horror tale and a high fantasy, and in a few places crosses over into that other genre with ease. But it never tries to become a high fantasy novel in the truest sense. In the long run, despite the dark edge and the fantastic elements, Golden's novel remains a sublime example of the magic and pain that are a part of growing from childhood into adulthood. Whether or not you remember puberty as well as you think you do, Christopher Golden brings back the memories with a fresh, powerful story that is a perfect example of what a good novel is all about. STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING was not what I expected; it was better than that. I'm going to have to give this one Five BookWyrms. Four for being an incredible story and one more for hitting adolescence almost perfectly.

This review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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