The Liminal Man
Todd Keisling
Precipice Books
2012
Reviewed by Wayne C. Rogers
The Liminal Man by Todd Keisling is the sequel to his earlier novel, A Life Transparent, featuring Donovan Candle as the lead character.
In A Life Transparent, Donovan Candle finds himself unexpectedly transported to the Monochrome: an alternate reality to our own world where mediocre human beings sooner or later find themselves. It isn’t a nice place to visit and escaping is extremely difficult. Donovan Candle has to fight his way back to the present reality he knows as our world. And then hopefully change his life for the better.
In The Liminal Man, everything takes place a year later.
Donovan Candle quit his boring job to become a private detective with his brother. For the past several months, he’s been investigating missing people, discovering that many of them (especially the teenagers) have been brutally murdered or have simply vanished from the face of the earth. A lot of the missing boys and girls also seem to have been fans of a popular reality show, which might just be a clue.
It isn’t until Donovan’s nephew disappears that he begins to suspect that the Monochrome is involved. Donovan knows that he has to find a way back to this dangerous place, but he’s afraid of what he might encounter. More to the point, however, is the fact that Donovan fears he might not come back.
The individual who now controls the Monochrome has other ideas about Donovan Candle and decides to lure him into a trap that will bring the private detective back to the place where death and fear are hand-in-hand.
Once there, Donovan will have to fight for his life in order to survive, not to mention his wife, who is about to be killed by someone from the Monochrome.
I have to admit that my mind was in other places while reading the first half of this novel. Still, there was something fascinating about it that kept me coming back to find out more. I know I got goose bumps when the police detective in the book encounters Donovan’s nephew and begins to suspect that his missing wife may be in the Monochrome, no matter how farfetched it seems to his rational mind. Of course, it’s at that point that Donovan Candle has to cowboy up like Bruce Willis if he wants even a slim chance at bringing his nephew and the missing wife back alive.
The book is well-written with a sharp look at how easily people allow themselves to slip into mediocrity and finally into the Monochrome with no way out.
The author is planning a third book in the continuing series. Let’s hope for a 2016 publication date so we can find out what happens next.
