The Snowman's Children (2002) - Glen Hirshberg

The Snowman's Children (2002) - Glen Hirshberg

A few weeks ago I was looking for a really good Halloween read, something that would scare my socks off and send them flying around the room like ghosts. (Okay, maybe that's not such a scary thought, but these are my socks we're talking about, so then again, maybe it is.) What I got from The Snowman's Children was a different kind of scare, a different sort of terror than that usually offered by a conventional horror novel.

As the novel opens in 1994, Matt (Mattie) Rhodes returns to the Detroit of his youth seeking to reconnect with his three best friends from 1977, Jon Goblin, Theresa Daughrety and Spencer Franklin. Matt's on something of a quest not only to find his friends, but to find himself, to try to understand why his life isn't quite what it should be despite a successful career and a wonderful wife.

Narratives alternate between 1994 and the winter of 1977, when a serial killer/child abductor referred to as The Snowman terrorized the Detroit area. Mattie has a tenuous relationship with his parents and his younger brother, but spends most of his time with Theresa and/or Spencer, all of whom are extremely bright, participating in a game called "Mind Wars," conducted by Theresa's father. As the threat of The Snowman enters their lives, Mattie suspects something strange is happening to his world in general and to Theresa in particular.

With the best of intentions, the 1977 Mattie makes a very poor decision that changes not only his life but the lives of everyone he knows. The 1994 Mattie returns home, obsessed with the hope that he might somehow try to make things right again or at least make an apologetic appeal to his friends.

The Snowman's Children is just about perfect. I simply do not understand how Hirshberg does it: combines elements of horror, mystery, an understanding of the way children's minds work, the challenges of marriage, family and friendships, the culture of the 1970s and an unflinching look at true horror, especially the horrors we unwittingly create for ourselves and those we love. Hirshberg's pacing is superb and his writing on both the sentence and paragraph levels is to die for.

Yet it is Hirshberg's portrayal of youth that is perhaps the most impressive element of the novel. He understands how children can misinterpret the most innocent of statements by adults, yet see right into the heart of sadness, disappointment and hurt implied in a word or a simple facial expression. In trying to deal with things they don't quite understand, children can take actions that have implications far beyond what they're capable of imagining. Hirshberg knows this and through Mattie, reminds us of some truths we'd rather not face. But we must. Highly recommended.