Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301170208
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by Paul Dellinger
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MENTAL SCI-FI STARTS WHERE OTHERS END
THE HOLLOW MAN. By Dan Simmons. Bantam Books. $20.Dan Simmons' novel using the science-fictional idea of mental telepathy begins where most stories with this theme end. Instead of a story where a man and woman with this mind-reading talent find each other and fall in love, Simmons' tale starts with all of that having happened already and the wife of the protagonist dying of cancer.
For Jeremy Bremen, Gail's death means more than losing the wife with whom he was able to share his inner-most thoughts. Gail had also acted as a shield to keep the cacophony of random thoughts from others at bay in Jeremy's mind. Now she is gone, and Jeremy tries to flee to isolated parts of the country where the mental static will be bearable.
Frank M. Robinson, Wilson Tucker and Eric Frank Russell pioneered this concept back in the 1950s with their respective novels, "The Power," "Wild Talent" and "Call Him Dead." Simmons uses it only as a starting point for Bremen's cross-country flight, one in which he encounters others avoiding society - a gangster who has just killed someone and is now pursuing Jeremy as the sole witness; a mass murderer who sees Jeremy as the next victim; and a few other dregs of humanity. He finds some friends in the community of the homeless, but his talent - or curse - finds more to loathe than to love among his fellow human beings.
One of the few high points of the novel comes when Jeremy picks up the thoughts of a child abuser and gives the man a thorough beating - an act which again puts him on the run from authorities.
From science-fiction to horror, the novel changes gears again and goes for a mystical kind of fusion of minds - though with sci-fi trappings - that has Jeremy again in touch with Gail and a mentally-impaired dying youth who has also been ill-treated all his life. The novel is not what you would call uplifting, but Simmons' writing is first-rate.